The European Commission has found the state support for six large offshore wind farms in French territorial waters to be in line with EU State aid rules. The measures will help France reduce CO2 emissions, in line with EU energy and climate goals, without unduly distorting competition in the single market.
France intends to gran aid for six offshore wind farms for electricity generation. The six sites are located in French territorial waters off the North-Western coast of France. The sites are "Courselles-sur-Mer", "Fécamp", "Saint-Nazaire", "Iles d'Yeu / Noirmoutier", "Dieppe / Le Tréport" and "Saint-Brieuc".
These are the first selected offshore wind projects supported by France. Each of the wind farms will be composed of 62 to 83 turbines with an installed capacity of 450 to 498 megawatts per farm. The selected installations will receive support in the form of feed-in tariffs over a period of 20 years.
The construction of the first of the wind farms is to start this year and they should be operational as of 2022. Once finalized, the wind farms will increase France's renewables generation capacity by about three gigawatts.
