France urged to hurry up into offshore wind energy market

The French government has been warned it could miss the boat when it comes to offshore wind energy, if it does not quickly launch its planned round of tenders to build up to 3GW of offshore wind farm plants.

The warning came from PriceWaterHouse Coopers in a report about the future of the European offshore wind turbines market based on interviews with more than 60 senior executives at wind power firms.

It reveals frustration within the industry at France’s failure to move forward with offshore wind energy plans, despite strong offshore wind resources and predictions the sector is likely to exceed the onshore wind farm market in terms of installed capacity by 2035.

In May this year, French Environment and Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo announced he would soon invite companies to tender for 10 offshore sites in a bid to boost capacity by 3GW.

However, despite reports last month that the government was on the brink of issuing tenders, the bidding process is yet to be launched.

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