Prysmian inks €700 million framework agreement for offshore links in France

Italy’s Prysmian has signed a framework agreement with the French transmission system operator (TSO) Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) to provide submarine power cable links that will connect two offshore wind farms to the French transmission grid.

Under the contract, Prysmian will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCI) of the power cable links for the Fos Project and the Narbonnaise Project, covering both submarine and land parts.

The two EPCI contracts are estimated at a potential value of approximately €700 million.

The projects are subject to call-off by RTE and finalization of the terms of the relevant EPCI contracts, which are expected to take place during the period 2026-2027. Delivery and commissioning are then scheduled for the period between 2031 and 2032.

Each project will consist of three high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) 225 kV three-core export cables with XLPE insulation, all equipped with synthetic armor.

The approximately 400 kilometers of land cables will be produced locally in Gron, France, while the around 240 kilometers of submarine cables will be manufactured at Prysmian’s center of excellence in Arco Felice, Italy, and Pikkala, Finland.

Installation operation will be carried out using one of Prysmian’s proprietary cable-laying vessels.

The Fos Project will be located on the coast of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and will require approximately 300 kilometers of cables (land and subsea), while the Narbonnaise Project, located on the coast of Occitanie, will require around 340 kilometers of cables, providing individually a capacity of 750 MW.

Recently, the French government pre-qualified twelve candidates for the AO9 tender, which was launched in July 2024.

The tender offers four new sites for offshore wind development: one off South Brittany, two in the Mediterranean, and one in the French South Atlantic region.

In terms of other news coming from Prysmian, the company signed a collaboration agreement with TechnipFMC in November to combine their technologies and expertise and deliver what they said is a complete water column solution for floating wind projects.