Ocean Winds Orders Vestas Turbines for Floating Wind Pilot in France

Madrid-based Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDPR and ENGIE, has ordered three Vestas wind turbines for its 30 MW Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating offshore wind pilot project it holds in partnership with the Banque des Territoires in France.

Vestas will be responsible for the supply, transport, installation, supervision, and commissioning of three V164-10.0 MW wind turbines. These will be installed on floating foundations in Port-la-Nouvelle and towed to their final location over 16 kilometers off the coast of the Leucate-Le Barcarès area in the Mediterranean Sea in water depths of 65 to 80 meters.

Denmark-based wind turbine maker Vestas said that the project also included an Active Output Management (AOM 5000) agreement, for the maintenance and service of the wind park over the next 18 years. Vestas did not provide financial details of the deal. Credit: Ocean Winds

"We are very proud of this important partnership with Vestas, that puts the EFGL project on the right track to starting construction only a few weeks after reaching our final investment decision (FID)”, said Grzegorz Gorski, COO of Ocean Winds. “On the eve of new floating tenders in France, the EFGL project represents both the technological and the environmental concretization of what floating wind sector is now capable of, proving it is more than ready for commercial scale”.

"We are proud to partner with Ocean Winds for the first time in France and for their first floating project, taking a step forward in the development of floating wind in the industry. This order showcases our commitment to the French offshore wind ambition, which aims to achieve 40 GW of capacity installed by 2050. To that end, we will continue providing leading technology like our V164-10.0 MW turbine, which has demonstrated unparalleled competitiveness when it comes to reducing the levelised cost of energy of a floating wind project”, says Benoît Gilbert, Senior Director Offshore Vestas Mediterranean.

Vestas is not a newcomer to floating wind projects. The company's turbines have been installed on floating foundations at projects off the coasts of Scotland and Portugal, at Kincardine and WindFloat Atlantic projects, respectively.