JV chosen to build France’s largest offshore wind farm

Map showing the Centre Manche zone, some 32km off the coast of Normandy. Image: Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie

The French government jointly awarded the design, build, operate and decommission contract to Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie, the project company owned by the EDF Renewables, and to Maple Power, a consortium of US-based Enbridge and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

The new contract brings to sixe the total number of French offshore wind farms in development, under construction or in operation by EDF and Enbridge.

So far, the capacity of the French wind projects within their portfolio totals approximately 2.8GW.

The planned Normandy offshore wind farm – Centre Manche 1 – is expected to be commissioned by 2031.

Following the finalisation of planning and permitting for the project, Construction will start later this decade, with teams erecting 70 fixed-support turbines, which could potentially supply electricity equal to the annual consumption of 1.5 million people – or more than 50% of the population of Normandy.

The government’s current plan will see a second wind farm built within the 500km² Centre Manche zone, with a total capacity of 500MW.

Further proposals could see up to 50 offshore wind farms commissioned by 2050, with a potential total capacity of 40GW.

Luc Rémont, EDF Group president and CEO, said, “We welcome the decision of the Ministry of Energy Transition, which confirms the quality of the work carried out by EDF Renewables and Maple Power. We are pleased to continue our trustful collaboration with the Normandy region in support of the energy transition. The Normandy offshore wind farm is fully in line with the EDF group’s strategy. It will contribute to achieving Europe and France’s objectives for carbon neutrality by 2050”.

Michael van der Heijden, CEO at Maple Power, said, “We are delighted to have been awarded the Normandy project alongside our partner EDF Renewables, which extends our very successful collaboration and is credit to the expertise of our joint team. Securing this landmark project is another step in Maple Power’s ambitions to deliver European offshore wind projects at scale in support of the energy transition and we look forward to the next phase of developing the project”.