This 300 million euro project, awarded following a call for tenders in 2016, was carried out by a consortium bringing together Shell, the Banque des Territoires (Caisse des dépôts) and the Chinese company CGN.
It "has faced several technical, commercial and financial challenges, all in a context of constantly increasing costs and very strong constraints, in terms of inflation and supply chain", explained the consortium in a press release. Tuesday, confirming information from Les Echos.
"The economic conditions linked to the project have been significantly modified, calling into question, for all the partners of the consortium, the economic viability of the project", he added.
The Breton project was to make it possible to test three floating wind turbines, a technology seen as the future of offshore wind power because it would allow wind farms to be installed deeper, and therefore in particular further from the coast, than wind turbines riveted to the sea floor.
Three other floating pilot farms are announced in France, all in the Mediterranean. For example, the floats of the planned project off Port-St-Louis-du-Rhône (Bouches-du-Rhône) were unveiled on Monday.
10 times larger retail parks
In particular, the project came up against the withdrawal of the turbine manufacturers General Electric (GE), then Vestas, which were to supply the 6 megawatt (MW) wind turbines, then the float manufacturer Naval Group, which sold its wind power business. floating.
Shell took over the project in 2019 by buying the company Eolfi, a former subsidiary of Veolia and a pioneer in floating wind power.
"The State regrets the abandonment of the project, which is the consequence in particular of the cessation of production by Vestas of the turbines to supply the park", reacted the Ministry of Energy Transition. This project, "which was initially to be in service in 2018, has been delayed several times, in particular with the departure of Naval Group which was the industrial referent of the project".
"Nevertheless, the three other pilot farms will be put into service in the next two years, while France has been in working order very early (since almost 8 years) to structure a strong wind power sector. floating", adds the ministry, which also recalls the launch this year of commercial calls for tenders for floating parks 10 times larger than the pilots, one in the south of Brittany and two in the Mediterranean.
The State has also allocated through the France 2030 plan nearly 300 million euros in support of the development of technologies and industrial and port facilities necessary for the rise of a hexagonal sector.
France, which is due to inaugurate its very first wind farm in a few days (80 wind turbines placed on the bottom) facing Saint-Nazaire, is counting on floating technology to be able to meet its ambitions: some 40 gigawatts (about 50 parks) of here 2050.