French Senate Rejects Offshore Wind Renegotiation Proposal

The French Senate has voted against a proposed amendment which would allow the government to renegotiate the feed-in tariffs of the six offshore wind projects selected in Round 1 and Round 2 tenders, according to local media.

As reported earlier, the French government submitted to the Senate a proposal to allow the renegotiation of the terms of the offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of 3GW selected in the first two tender rounds. The proposed amendment would also allow the government to cancel the projects in case the renegotiations failed.

The proposal faced strong opposition from the industry representatives, as well as from the representatives from the regions of Brittany, Normandy and Pays-de-la-Loire, where the six wind farms are to be built.

The Round 1 projects include Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer, and Fécamp, developed by an EDF-led consortium, and Saint Brieuc, developed by an Iberdrola-led consortium, with a combined capacity of 2GW.

The Round 2 tender winners in 2014 include the 496MW Dieppe-Le Tréport and the 496MW Ile d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier projects, being developed by an Engie-led consortium.

The six projects have received feed-in tariffs of around EUR 200/MWh.