The French Government has awarded almost €260 million ($422 million) to five ports to upgrade infrastructure needed to manufacture, assemble, and deploy floating offshore wind turbines.
Funding will support projects at Cherbourg, Brest, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, Port-la-Nouvelle, and Marseille-Fos, with the grants expected to leverage almost €1 billion in total investment.
The European Commission says the awards will fund the construction or reinforcement of quays, heavy-load storage and assembly areas, and access routes capable of accommodating large components used in floating wind developments. The infrastructure will support the manufacture and assembly of floating foundations, as well as the integration of turbines onto those structures before they are towed out to sea.
Cherbourg, Brest, and Nantes-Saint-Nazaire will serve the Atlantic and Channel markets, while Port-la-Nouvelle and Marseille-Fos will provide infrastructure for developments in the Mediterranean.
The scale of the project reflects the outsized infrastructure needed for floating wind.
The French Government is also targeting nearly 6 gigawatts of operational floating offshore wind capacity by 2040. Ports are expected to play a central role in achieving that goal.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
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