French renewable energy developer Qair and Italy’s Eni Plenitude have formed a consortium to participate in the French AO9 offshore wind tender, which was opened in July 2024.
At the start of 2025, the total capacity allocated via offshore wind tenders in France amounts to around 5.34 GW. With the inclusion of the AO9 and AO10 tenders, it is estimated that this figure could rise to 15.34 GW by 2026, bringing France closer to its target of 18 GW of offshore wind in operation by 2035 and 45 GW by 2050.
Qair and Plenitude pre-qualified to compete for the development of four floating or fixed-bottom offshore wind projects across several maritime regions.
The tender comprises a 450 MW to 550 MW floating wind project off the coast of Occitanie; floating projects off the coast of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) and south of Brittany, each of 450 MW to 550 MW; and a 1,000 MW to 1,250 MW fixed-bottom or floating project off the coast of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The four projects are planned to be commissioned between 2032 and 2034.
According to Qair, the company will bring its floating offshore wind expertise to the Eolbleu consortium. In France, Qair is building the 30 MW EolMed floating wind pilot . The company also secured the 1 GW Ayre floating wind farm in Scotland through the Thistle Wind Partners (TWP) consortium.
The company is actively expanding in the Iberian Peninsula, with over 2 GW of offshore wind projects in development in Spain, and also partnered with Etermar Energia for wind projects in Portugal.
When it comes to Eni Plenitude, the company is also developing a floating offshore wind project in Spain, together with its partners BlueFloat Energy and Sener.
The 525 MW floating offshore wind farm will be located over 30 kilometres from the coast, in the waters between Cedeira and Cariño.