Bruno Le Maire himself recognizes this: on offshore wind power, France has “had a real delay in lighting” and it is now up to him to do “a giant step”. The Minister of Economy and Finance was in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) on Thursday, May 2 to visit the Chantiers de l’Atlantique site, accompanied by the Minister for Industry and Energy, Roland Lescure , and detail France’s industrial policy in terms of wind energy produced in the open sea.
In its strategy for France to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, the executive is counting largely on nuclear power to enable the electrification of the country, but also on renewable energies, including solar and offshore wind. Concerning the latter , the ambition is to increase its share in the national electricity mix, currently almost non-existent, to 20% in 2050. A significant leap, which requires “a change of scale” and an “massive acceleration”, according to Bruno Le Maire.
In Saint-Nazaire, the two ministers wanted to demonstrate the government’s confidence in this emerging technology which still harbors doubts. They did this by attending the signing of a 4.5 billion euro contract between RTE, the electricity network manager in France, Chantiers de l’Atlantique and the Japanese company Hitachi to provide platforms offshore electricity to two future wind farms in Oléron (Charente-Maritime) and in Normandy. Then by inaugurating the station which will equip the park commissioned by Engie built opposite the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier (Vendée). This offshore platform, which is due to be commissioned in 2025, will collect electricity from offshore wind turbines, transmit it via direct current via underwater cables to land, and be able to power up to 800,000 people. .
“We will be able to come out with a very competitive price”
In order to make up for the French delay, several offshore parks are supposed to be installed along the Normandy, Breton and Mediterranean coasts within around ten years. Only one is already operating, since 2022, off the coast of Saint-Nazaire; two others are to follow in Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) and Saint-Brieuc this year. In addition to Yeu and Noirmoutier, platforms must be developed in Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) and Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados) in 2025-2026, another in Dunkirk (North) in 2028-2029, and two others in Belle-Ile-en-Mer (Morbihan) and in Manche in 2031.
In addition, two new calls for tenders for offshore parks are launched in the Mediterranean Sea, in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) and in Agde (Hérault), for 2032-2035, and three others on the the Channel and Brittany. A map of “areas suitable for offshore wind power” over ten years and 2050 will also be published by the State in September.
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