France initiates tender call for 500-MW Dunkirk offshore wind project

France kicked off a call for tenders to pre-selected candidates in connection with the development of a roughly 500-MW offshore wind project off the coast of Dunkirk.

The country’s prime minister Edouard Philippe and the minister of ecological transition, Francois de Rugy, on Thursday announced the publication of the final specifications of the call for tenders.

The candidates will have four months to make their offers. Then, the winner is expected to be selected in mid-2019, with the goal of commissioning the wind farm in 2022.

According to French daily Les Echos, ten consortia will compete in the tender, including French EDF, Engie (with Portuguese EDPR) and Spanish Iberdrola, already winners in previous tenders. Sweden's Vattenfall, Norway's Equinor, Canada's Boralex and Belgium's Elicio are also among the pre-selected candidates.

Minister de Rugy also put a signature that concluded tariff renegotiations and confirmed France’s first six offshore wind farms with a public support exceeding EUR 20 billion (USD 22.7bn). In June, President Emmanuel Macron announced that the six projects will go on with their development following an agreement to reduce their public subsidy to EUR 150 per MWh from EUR 200/MWh.

Also on Thursday, wind industry association France Energie Eolienne (FEE) used the occasion to propose the installation of 4 GW-6 GW of bottom-fixed offshore wind capacity plus 3.2 GW-4.2 GW of floating turbines by 2030 under the next long-term energy programme (PPE). This is in addition to the Dunkirk development and pilot floating wind installations, FEE noted.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.135)

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