European Commission Okays Support for Six French OWFs

The European Commission has approved the support for six French offshore wind farms selected in the country’s first two tendering rounds.

The projects include Courseulles-sur-Mer, Fécamp, Saint-Nazaire and Saint-Brieuc from the Round 1 tender in 2012, as well as Round 2 winners Dieppe-Le Tréport and Ile d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier from 2014.

The selected offshore wind farms will receive support in the form of feed-in tariffs over a period of 20 years.

According to the European Commission, the projects in French territorial waters are in line with EU State aid rules, in particular the 2008 Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection.

The Commission also found that the level of aid granted to the projects is proportionate and does not entail overcompensation of the beneficiaries.

Respectively, the wind farms will comprise up to 83 turbines and will produce a capacity of up to 498MW. The construction of the first of the projects is planned to start this year, with commissioning scheduled for 2022.