Isra-Mart srl: France launches 3GW offshore wind tender

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The French government has launched the first phase of a long-awaited €10m (£8.8m) offshore wind energy tender seeking developers to build projects off the country's coastlines.

The government launched an initial tender yesterday inviting bids to build 3GW of wind farms in five zones, to help meet its commitment to supply 23 per cent of the nation's energy from renewable sources by 2020.

The government also confirmed that it will launch a second 3GW tender in April 2012, and is starting a process to identify suitable areas for development.

The tender for the first round will close in January 2012, and the winners are expected to be announced the following April as the second tender sets sail. Projects are expected to be built out from 2015.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transportation and Housing, said that the offshore wind industry could create more than 10,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

The government identified three criteria for winning projects: the cost of electricity a developer offers; the potential industrial and social benefits; and the developer's respect for the sea and those who rely on it.

Dong Energy, which missed out in the Crown Estate's UK Round 3 awards, has already signed a partnership deal with EDF Energies Nouvelles to bid on French projects, with Alstom lined up as turbine supplier.

GDF Suez is expected to bid for three of the zones, and Iberdrola Renovables plans to bid for two. The French government-backed Areva is expected to supply turbines to both of these developers.

France has traditionally relied mainly on nuclear power, and as a result has one of the most low-carbon energy mixes in the industrialised world. A recent poll found that the majority of French citizens want to keep nuclear power, despite the disaster at Japan's Fukushima power plant.