Ocean Winds, ENGIE’s joint venture held 50/50 with EDP Renewables and dedicated to offshore wind, announces today the final investment decision for the Îles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier project, together with its partners Sumitomo Corporation, Banque des Territoires and Vendée Energie, as shareholders of the company “Eoliennes en Mer des îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier” (EMYN). Located off the Vendée coast, it will be the fifth offshore wind farm to be commissioned in France from 2025.
With a total capacity of around 500 MW, the Yeu and Noirmoutier wind farm represents an investment of around €2.5 billion. The project involves the construction and installation of a wind farm located 11 km off the island of Yeu and 16 km off the island of Noirmoutier. This offshore wind farm will supply nearly 800,000 people with electricity each year, the equivalent of the population of the Vendée.
Winner in 2014 of the call for tenders launched by the French State in 2013, the project has been in development since then, implying a continuous dialogue with local elected officials, fisheries and sea users, socio-economic players and the general public. Detailed engineering studies, environmental studies and the creation of a Scientific Interest Group to follow-up the environmental impacts of the wind farm, from its construction to its exploitation, have also been carried out. The administrative authorisations were obtained in 2018.
The final investment decision opens the way for the construction phase of the project: the first offshore operations will take place this summer before the effective start of the installation works in 2024 and 2025. The wind turbines, produced by Siemens Gamesa in its Le Havre facility, will be installed during 2025. The wind farm is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2025. The construction phase of the EMYN wind farm, which will last 2.5 years, will create 1,600 direct jobs in France.
ENGIE, through Ocean Winds, has two other wind farms under construction or ready to be built in France: the Dieppe-Le Tréport farm and the Gulf of Lion floating pilot farm. With 15 projects in 7 countries, Ocean Winds has now a portfolio of 1.5 GW of projects in operation and 15.1 GW under construction and in development. With 8 GW won in Scotland and the US in 2022, the ENGIE joint-venture has tripled the size of its project portfolio since its creation in 2020.
“We, at ENGIE, are delighted that EMYN, a flagship project for the Group, is achieving a significant development step, and will now be entering in construction phase. This offshore wind park will contribute to the development of the French offshore wind energy industry. France has an exceptional potential in terms of renewable energies, in particular thanks to its seaboards. ENGIE is strongly committed to support the country’s energy transition through responsibly conducted projects.”, says Paulo ALMIRANTE, ENGIE Senior Executive Vice President Renewables, Energy Management and Nuclear Activities.
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