MADRID, Spain – Ocean Winds and the Banque des Territoires have taken a final investment decision on the Eoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating wind project offshore southern France.
This will allow signing of contracts with the main industrial and financial partners and the start of the implementation phase.
The EFGL pilot project involves construction and operation of three 10-MW floating wind turbines, to be located over 16 km (9.9 mi) offshore Leucate (Aude) and Le Barcarès (Pyrénées-Orientales). The turbines are claimed to be the most powerful to be installed on a floating structure: the wind farm is due to be commissioned at the end of 2023 and will operate for 20 years.
Grzegorz Gorski, COO of Ocean Winds, said the design of the EFGL floater – as the third generation of the Principle Power Inc. floater technology after WindFloat 1 (2 MW) and WindFloat Atlantic (25 MW) – “holds significant improvements and new solutions…and is ready for a full-scale commercial deployment.”
He added: “Ocean Winds with PPI technology is now the only continuation of the French pilot program projects bidding in the Bretagne Sud tender. The other technologies awarded are either discontinued or the awarded developers changed their bets.”
