EDF wins offshore wind farm project off Normandy
Consortium owned EDF Renewablessubsidiary of the group EDFand Maple Power, Canadian Project Manager wind turbines “Offshore” in Europe, “Wind turbines at sea Manche Normandie” will therefore have to bring out from the waves an installed capacity of around 1 gigawatt (GW). Straddling the departments of Manche and Calvados, the future park is supposed to provide the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of more than 1.5 million inhabitants, which represents approximately half of the electricity needs of the population. of the Normandy region.
“We are happy to continue our collaboration of trust with the Normandy territory in favor of the energy transition”, declared for the occasion Luc Rémont, Chairman and CEO of EDF. The energy company is indeed not at its first attempt: the new installation will be the 5th of its kind on a national scale, and the 3rd on the scale of Normandy, which it is developing in collaboration with Maple Power .
Around fifty offshore wind farms by 2050
The two partners have already signed the park off Saint-Nazaire, with a capacity of 480 megawatts (MW) and which has been in operation since the end of 2022. They are also in the process of building the facilities in Fécamp (500 MW) and Calvados (450 MW), as well as the Provence Grand Large floating wind farm pilot project (25 MW). With Enbridge, one of Maple Power’s shareholders, EDF is also continuing to develop the fleet of Dunkirkwith a capacity of 600 MW.
The Channel Center 1 project is more broadly in line with the executive’s energy policy objectives, based on the Belfort speech by Emmanuel Macron who had announced, notwithstanding the revival of nuclear power, the construction of around fifty wind farms at sea by 2050, to reach a total of 40 GW of installed capacity. With the future wind farm in Manche and Calvados, the cumulative power of the “offshore” wind projects currently under development will amount to 4 GW.
Rate “very competitive”
The Government explains its choice by the tariff “very competitive” of the project led by “Wind turbines at sea Manche Normandie”, which would be less than 45 euros per megawatt-hour, said the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, to The Channel Pressaccording to theAFP.
“This competitive bidding procedure made it possible to introduce new criteria reinforcing the influence of the project on the local economy and the environment, the offers of the candidates having been noted on various commitments: recycling of the blades, contribution to a protection of biodiversity, rate of use of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) for construction and operation, use of crowdfunding, etc.explains the Roquelaure hotel.
“This sector also means 6,600 jobs in France, up 36% in one year, and factories that are springing up in our territories and which represent a third of the means of production on a European scale”added Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
Pending the commissioning of the Center Manche 1 wind farm in 2031, the Government also announced the publication, in April, of the specifications for the 250 MW floating offshore wind project in the South Brittany, “one of the first in the world awarded by commercial tender”. Its award is scheduled for the end of 2023. Similarly, the two wind farm projects off the island of Oléron and Normandy will be awarded at the beginning of 2024, for commissioning in 2032.
