France Accelerates Offshore Wind Development: Major Tender Wave Announced for 2025

France is making significant strides in expanding its offshore wind energy capacity. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a major tender wave for 2025, with the goal of connecting an additional 10 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity to the grid by 2035. This ambitious plan corresponds to approximately ten new wind farms and marks a pivotal step in France’s energy transition.

This year has already seen major milestones: The results of two tenders for floating offshore wind farms in the Mediterranean have been announced. The contract for the "Éoliennes Flottantes d'Occitanie" wind farm (250 MW) was awarded to Ocean Winds and Éolien en mer Beteiligungen. The "Golfe de Fos" wind farm (also 250 MW) will be developed by the project company Éoliennes Méditerranée Grand Large.

In Brittany, France continues to invest in innovative offshore projects. The floating wind project "Pennavel" (270 MW) was awarded in May 2024 to Elicio and BayWa r.e. These companies also secured the "AO5" tender for another floating wind farm in southern Brittany, with a capacity of 230 to 270 MW.

These developments are part of France’s long-term strategy to increase offshore wind capacity to 18 GW by 2035 and an ambitious 45 GW by 2050. The recent tenders underline the country’s commitment to expanding renewable energy and driving forward the energy transition.