France has closed the bid submission period for AO10, its largest offshore wind tender to date, which is looking for developers for eleven projects with a combined capacity of around 10 GW.
The deadline for submitting offers was 12:00 on 12 October, according to the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE), which will assess the bids ahead of the planned award of projects in February 2027.
AO10 combines projects previously planned under two separate procurement rounds, AO9 and AO10, bringing them into a single tender. The move consolidates the development of offshore wind projects across France’s maritime regions, with around 5 GW of capacity allocated to fixed-bottom wind and another 5 GW to floating wind.
The tender comprises seven floating and four fixed-bottom offshore wind projects, including the delayed Oléron offshore wind project, which received no bids in an earlier tender.
The French government launched AO10 in June 2026, with selection criteria covering factors including industrial resilience, environmental performance and cybersecurity, alongside price. In July this year, the European Commission approved the EUR 63 billion French scheme to support the construction and operation of eleven offshore wind farms under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF).
CRE has not disclosed the names of the bidders.
Back in 2024, the French government pre-qualified twelve companies and consortia for the AO9 tender: TotalEnergies; Iberdrola; RWE; EnBW Valeco Offshore; Parkwind; BayWa r.e.; a consortium of Elicio Group, Q Energy and Kansai Electric; EDF Renewables and Maple Power; Ocean Winds and Banque des Territoires; Oxan Energy and Ingka Investments; Plenitude and Qair; and a consortium of Skyborn Renewables and Octopus Energy.
French industry publication GreenUnivers reported earlier this year that Ocean Winds was preparing its pilot floating wind project for AO10, and that EDF power solutions and Maple Power were working on offers for AO10 together. It remains unknown whether the companies submitted bids.