French wind industry group (FEE) announced Tuesday that the country will launch a call for tenders for floating wind power projects this month.
FEE believes up to three projects ranging from 15 to 60 MW with a total capacity of up to 120MW will participate, writes Reuters.
The group could not specify the level of feed-in tariff subsidies the government would offer, however, FEE president Frederic Lanoe said it would logically be more than 200 €/MW for fixed-foundation offshore wind farms.
Also, the project will receive 150 million euro investment subsidy.
With a goal of 6 GW of offshore wind power by 2020, and only 3 GW awarded, France is developing its offshore wind energy slower than its European neighbors such as Germany, which aims to set up 15 GW by 2030 or Britain and its goal of 40 GW by this time, according to FEE.
The prospect of the 3rd call for tenders for offshore wind is going in the right direction, but the industry lacks clarity for the coming years.
“We must quickly conclude the selection of areas in autumn in order to be able to launch the third tender,” FEE said, adding that it proposes to set a target of 15 GW of offshore wind power and 6 GW of floating wind built by 2030. As for onshore wind, the industry’s objective is 40 GW by 2030.
Offshore WIND Staff; Image: DCNS