With "a maximum" of 47 wind turbines, installed more than 32 km off the Cotentin (Manche and Calvados), this "Centre Manche 1" park will have a power of one gigawatt (GW), enough to supply electricity to more than '1,5 million people a year -- about half the needs of the Normans.
The project was awarded, two years after the launch of the call for tenders, to the "Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie" consortium, bringing together EDF Renewables and the Canadian developer Maple Power, announced the Ministry of Energy Transition.
The group, opposed to five competitors (including Iberdrola, TotalEnergies-RWE or Shell), proposed a "very competitive" price for the sale of future electricity, indicates the ministry.
This price amounts to less than 45 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), specified Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher to the newspaper La Presse de la Manche. More precisely, 44,90 euros, according to EDF Renewables, for an investment amount between 2 and 3 billion euros.
The previous park allocated, that of Dunkirk in 2019, had also been won by EDF, on the basis of the then unprecedented price of 45 euros (when these technologies were still at 200 euros per MWh a few years ago).
On the side of EDF Renewables, we say we are "confident" in the ability to make such an infrastructure profitable with such a price: it is "a solid offer".
In addition to the price, this call for tenders introduced criteria "strengthening the influence of the project on the local economy and the environment", assures the ministry, against a backdrop of concerns of residents and users of the sea: with commitments such as the recycling of blades, the contribution to a fund for the protection of biodiversity, the use of local SMEs, participatory investment, etc.
EDF has also undertaken not to plant more than 47 wind turbines, which means 22 MW turbines not yet available but expected in view of the promised technological developments.
Great debates to come
From now on, eight offshore wind farms are therefore entrusted to operators, a sector largely dominated by EDF (with 5 farms).
Good news for the national electrician, "happy to continue (its) collaboration of trust with the Normandy territory in favor of the energy transition", said CEO Luc Rémont, quoted in a press release from the group. "The Manche Normandie offshore wind farm is fully in line with the strategy of the EDF group".
But France will have to accelerate if it wants to meet its objective of 40 GW, or around 50 parks, by 2050.
Between legal remedies and procedure, the very first in France, facing Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), was inaugurated last fall, 10 years after its award: 80 wind turbines (480 MW) capable of supplying 700.000 people.
To change gear, the government announced on Monday a consultation on the acceleration of competition procedures and the evolution of public support methods (until June 12, on the site éoliennesenmer.fr).
Several projects are also in the pipeline, particularly in the emerging technology of floating wind power, particularly in the Mediterranean but not only: the specifications for the 250 MW floating field in southern Brittany are expected in April, for a planned award end of 2023.
Another measure, demanded by the sector and enacted by the recent law on the acceleration of renewable energies, a global planning of the sites, making it possible to leave the choice of parks on an ad hoc basis.
Four major public debates are to be held this year to determine, by major coastline, the positioning of future areas.
Several questions should then be asked: how many gigawatts per facade? Do we make a big park, several small ones, what are the connection points?, explains the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), the ultimate objective being to "give more visibility as to the future of the sea and its uses".