This picture, from Sept. 2022, exhibits French President Emmanuel Macron talking with employees on board a ship throughout a go to to the Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind Farm.
Stephane Mahe | AFP | Getty Images
A facility described as “France’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project” is absolutely operational, multinational utility EDF mentioned this week.
The news represents a big step ahead for the nation’s offshore wind sector, with extra initiatives set to return on-line within the years forward.
In an announcement Wednesday, EDF mentioned the 480-megawatt Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind Farm would assist to “support the French State’s energy transition goals, which include targets to generate 32% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.” EDF’s majority shareholder is the French state.
Located in waters off the south west coast of France, the Saint-Nazaire undertaking consists of 80 generators. Its first electrical energy was generated in June 2022.
Looking forward, EDF mentioned the wind farm would “supply the equivalent of the consumption of 700,000 people with electricity every year.”
While the Saint-Nazaire undertaking represents a big shot within the arm for France’s nascent offshore wind sector, the nation has for many years been one thing of a powerhouse on the subject of nuclear.
According to the World Nuclear Association, France is residence to 56 operable reactors. “France derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy,” it provides.
In wind energy, the nation has a longtime onshore sector. Its offshore business is in contrast miniscule, with a cumulative capability of simply 2 MW in 2021, in response to figures from business physique WindEurope.
This is about to vary within the coming years. “Offshore installations are finally set to take off as of 2022, and we expect 3.3 GW of offshore wind installations from now until 2026,” WindEurope’s Wind Energy in Europe report, which was printed in Feb. 2022, mentioned.
In an announcement, EDF Renewables’ CEO Bruno Bensasson expressed satisfaction in commissioning what he referred to as “France’s first industrial offshore wind farm.”
“Over the past 10 years, this project has contributed to the construction of the offshore wind power industry in France and has mobilized a significant number of jobs during construction and now in the operating phase,” he later added.