On the occasion of the 8th edition of the International Meeting on Floating Offshore Wind Energy, Brittany welcomed for the first time floating offshore wind turbines on its coast. While calls for tenders relating to the creation of the first floating wind farm are pouring in for 2029, this industry is touting the qualities of a promising technology for the future in the world. 

Floating offshore wind energy: a new technology

In the offshore wind industry, we have two main categories of wind turbines. The so-called “fixed” or “land-based” wind turbines and the more recent floating wind turbines. To evaluate the level of performance and innovation of floating wind turbines, we will make a brief comparison between these two types of wind turbines based on four criteria: ease of installation, depth, reliability and potential.

Unlike fixed wind turbines, floating turbines have the main advantage of being able to be installed further out to sea, where the winds are stronger and more regular. Beyond a depth of 30 to 40 meters, the cost of installing a conventional offshore wind turbine is no longer economically viable,” says Jean-Louis Bal, president of the French Renewable Energy Union. Floating wind turbines, on the other hand, could be installed at depths of up to 200 meters.”

The Mediterranean basin and the Atlantic coasts, whose seabed dives quickly would therefore be favorable areas to host this type of wind turbines.

On the other hand, the main difficulty would be that of being able to adapt these wind turbines attached to floats to withstand bad weather conditions. “It is necessary to build floating devices strong enough to support weights of several hundred tons with masts up to 100 meters high, all of which can be subjected to violent winds and swell”, explains Jean-Louis Bal.

In addition to this technical challenge, there is an economic one. Indeed, the electricity produced by offshore wind turbines currently in operation oscillates between 150 and 200 euros per MWh. The industry hopes to lower this cost to 100/125 euros, to get closer to the land wind (82 euros per MWh).

A project that extends beyond European borders 

Although not very frequent nowadays because of its high cost, the project of installation of floating offshore wind farms is on the agenda of several countries in the world.

This is the case of Scotland with the installation of its floating wind farm of Kincardine, located in the Aberdeen bay in the north-east of Scotland. To date, it is the largest floating wind farm in the world with a cumulative power of 50MW. Commissioned in 2018, it is expected to generate approximately 218GWh of green electricity annually, which would be equivalent to the average consumption of 55,000 Scottish households. The Danish wind power giant Vestas, Kincardine Offshore Wind, Cobra Wind and the Navantia-Windar consortium have been key players in this project.

Portugal has also invested in this sector with the commissioning of the three largest floating wind turbines in the world in the WindFloat park in 2020.

Composed of 190m high wind turbines installed at a depth of 100 meters, off the Atlantic Ocean, “This system allows the installation of wind turbines on the high seas, an area that has been inaccessible until now, where abundant wind resources can now be exploited,” says the Windplus consortium, which initiated the project. The floating wind turbines can be installed in places where the wind is most powerful and constant. According to Engie, they could provide for the needs of 60,000 people each year.

Research and development projects are also being carried out in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States.

Floating offshore wind energy a developing industry in France

France also wishes to integrate this offshore sector in its territory after several demonstration projects. Several calls for tenders for floating offshore wind have been launched as part of its integrated National Energy-Climate Plan. Last year, a first tranche of 250 MW tenders was launched for Brittany (target price of 120€/MW) and a second one in 2022 of 250 MW for the Mediterranean (110€/MWh).

Demonstration projects have proven that floating wind turbines are technically feasible, but the cost of this technology remains the main obstacle to overcome before considering its large-scale installation.

In addition, the first floating wind turbines should be installed in the Mediterranean by the end of 2023. Three 10-megawatt machines will be installed 16 kilometers off the coast of Aude and Roussillon.

The project to build three floating wind turbines in the Mediterranean was approved on Thursday by Ocean Winds (a joint venture dedicated to offshore wind power owned by Engie and the Portuguese group EDPR) and the Banque des Territoires.

A project to install two floating offshore wind farms is also planned off southern Brittany, both ranging from 250 MW to 500 MW. The first 250 MW project will also be one of the first projects using floating technology in Europe. To identify the players likely to take part in this market, pre-selection meetings on the project presentation were held in 2020 between the candidates.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition will then designate the 10 candidates who will be admitted to participate in the competitive dialogue for this fifth offshore wind tender. Among these candidates we have:

– The consortium formed by CIP and ENI

– Eoliennes Flottantes Bretagne Grand Large, a project company of EDF Renouvelables and Maple Power

– The consortium formed by the groups Elicio and BayWa r.e.

– Equinor

– Iberdrola

– Ocean Winds

– RWE

– The consortium formed by Shell, Valeco and Eolien en Mer Participations (subsidiary of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations)

– The consortium formed by TotalEnergies, Green Investment Group and Qair

– The consortium formed by wpd, Vattenfall and BlueFloat Energy

At the end of this dialogue, a winner will be chosen to consider the commissioning of the park in 2029.

This industrial sector is very promising. Both in terms of innovation and investment, there are many players who can take part and prosper. If you also want to be part of this sector of activity and benefit from advice, contact us