European Commission Approves Support for Floating Wind Farms in France

The Commission approved French plans to support four demonstration floating wind farms for producing electricity off the French coast. While the “Groix Belle Ile” project will be located in the Atlantic Ocean, the other three projects (“Golf du Lion”, “Eolmed”, and “Provence Grand Large”) will be located in the Mediterranean Sea.

The demonstration floating wind farms will each be composed of three to four turbines and will each have a total installed capacity of 24 megawatt. Each of the four demonstration wind farms will use a particular combination of turbine, floater and cables. The objective of the public support is to test these different technological solutions, with the long-term goal to test this technology before deploying it on a larger scale.

The demonstration wind farms will receive both investment aid and operating aid. Part of the investment aid will be paid in the form of repayable advances.he Commission concluded that the four projects will promote the use of electricity generated from renewable sources and will help France meet its climate targets, without unduly distorting competition.