The French government has selected a team comprising GDF Suez, EDP Renewables, Neoen Marine and Areva to install and operate two 500 MW wind farms in northern France. The group beat a consortium of EDF Energies Nouvelles and wpd offshore, with turbine supplier Alstom.
The wind farms – at Tréport off the coast of Haute-Normandie and the Isles of Yeu and Noirmoutier in Pays de la Loire – will use Areva’s new 8MW wind turbine technology.
The team says it will begin selecting suppliers for foundations, electrical sub-stations, and installation maintenance services gradually from 2015 to 2017.
Manufacturing of the 8MW Areva wind turbines is set to start in 2018, in Le Havre, with construction of the Tréport and Isles of Yeu wind farms expected between 2019 and 2021.
The two wind farms are expected to create almost 6000 direct and indirect jobs.
