French offshore vessel owner and services provider Bourbon, through its subsea services unit, has teamed up with energy firm RWE Renewables France to jointly bid for the Mediterranean floating offshore wind auction.
The partners have applied to be selected as eligible bidders for the tender under which two sites for floating offshore wind will be developed, each with a planned installed capacity of about 250 MW, with potential extensions leading to a total capacity of 1.5 GW.
Since 2011, Bourbon has installed most of the semi-submersible floating wind turbines in Europe. Recently, the company has consolidated its leadership in the market by signing last May a three-floaters pilot farm EPCI contract in the Mediterranean Sea; and in late 2021, with the installation and start-up of the TetraSpar demonstrator in Norway in collaboration with RWE – a partner in this project.Â
“With our unique track record in installing floating wind turbine prototypes and pilot farms, our ambition is to participate very actively in the development of the French industrial sector. By signing this partnership with RWE, we are eager to better understand from the inside the needs of our customers and the industrial challenges necessary for the large-scale deployment of floating wind turbines,” said Patrick Belenfant, CEO of Bourbon Subsea Services.
RWE has already qualified to participate in the offshore auction dubbed “La Manche” together with Total Energies as a partner for a site off the coast of Normandy and for the French first commercial floating offshore wind project, off the coast of South Brittany. RWE currently operates 18 offshore wind farms in five countries with a total capacity of around 3 GW and is developing and constructing some of the world’s most advanced offshore wind farms, including the 342 MW Kaskasi off the German island of Heligoland and the 1.4 GW project Sofia in the UK.
