Decarbonization of the maritime sector and competitiveness. Expected at the maritime economy conference on Tuesday in Nantes, President Emmanuel Macron should reaffirm his support for fishermen and his ambition to make offshore wind power the leading source of renewable energy in France.
In two days, the Head of State redraws his vision of French maritime sovereignty, both culturally and economically, in a country which retains the second largest maritime space in the world behind the United States.
A first step on Monday took him to the National Maritime Museum, which has just reopened its doors in Paris after six years of renovation. “The sea, for us, should be obvious,” he declared, referring to a place of “transit”, “power” and “conflict”, at the heart of “climate and biodiversity issues”.
The second stage takes him to Nantes on Tuesday, where he will return to “the major themes of environmental protection, competitiveness, sovereignty in logistics and energy”, according to the Elysée.
These meetings on the economy of the sea, organized by the daily newspapers Ouest-France and Le Marin, bring together fishermen, shipbuilders, shipowners, local elected officials and associations near the first French offshore wind farm off the coast of Saint-Nazaire. (Loire Atlantique).
40 gigawatt target
The Head of State, who is due to speak around 12:00 p.m., will officially launch the public debate – open on November 20 and until April 26 – intended to identify the sites on which around fifty similar parks will be installed by 2050. The objective is to establish precise zones of locations in the Mediterranean as well as in the Atlantic, Channel and North Sea.
At the end of the public debate, the government plans to launch a call for tenders for the installation of offshore wind farms “which could reach a total of up to 10 gigawatts”, the Minister of Transition indicated in September. energy Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
France currently has 8 GW of offshore parks installed or in the pipeline. The objective is to reach 40 to 45 GW in 2050, which will make offshore wind the second source of electricity production after nuclear power.
Emmanuel Macron will also make announcements in favor of fishermen, in a context of soaring fuel prices, and will draw up “prospects for this sector”, specified the Elysée. French fishermen currently benefit from aid of 20 cents per liter of fuel, until December 31.
At the head of an aging fleet which has lost more than a quarter of its ships in twenty years, professionals are calling for the maintenance of emergency aid for fuel – the current European framework makes it possible to go as far as June 30, 2024 with a ceiling of 335,000 euros per company – but are also awaiting initiatives to ensure the future of the sector.