French Floater Proves a Crowdfunding Hit

Business & Finance

The EolMed consortium developing a floating wind project in the French Mediterranean has launched a crowdfunding campaign with the aim of raising EUR 300,000 to finance the deployment of a Floating LiDAR. 

The crowdfunding campaign on the Enerfip platform started on 22 May and since then the developer has met and exceeded its EUR 300,000 target. The campaign’s ceiling is EUR 400,000.

Residents of the Occitane Region are currently the only ones that can participate in the campaign by investing between EUR 10 and EUR 2,500. From 30 June to 5 July the campaign will open for anyone willing to invest.

The EolMed consortium is led by the French renewable energy developer Quadran and includes Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics and Senvion.

The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) approved the consortium’s bid to construct a pilot floating wind farm in the Gruissan area in 2016.

The 24.8MW wind farm will comprise four Senvion 6.2MW wind turbines installed on Ideol’s Damping Pool floating foundations some 15 kilometres offshore Gruissan in an average depth of 55 metres.

The wind farm is expected to enter the construction phase in 2019 and start operating by late 2020/early 2021 for a period of 20 years.