Following the fourth offshore wind tender launched in January 2021, the French Ministry of Energy Transition has chosen Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie, the project company owned by the EDF Renewables and Maple Power consortium, to design, build, operate, and decommission the future offshore wind farm called Centre Manche 1, Normandy, France. This new offshore wind project will provide France a competitive and renewable electricity, contributing to the country’s carbon neutrality objective.
The future Centre Manche 1 offshore wind farm will be located more than 32 km off the coast of the departments of Manche and Calvados in the region of Normandy. With an expected installed capacity of approximately 1 GW, it will supply the equivalent of the annual consumption of more than 1.5 million people, approximately half of the electricity needs of the population of the Normandy region.
This is the fifth offshore wind project in France and the third in Normandy developed by EDF Renewables together with Maple Power and its shareholders – Enbridge Inc. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board – as part of the fixed bottom offshore wind tenders launched by the French State since 2011.
Leaders in offshore wind in France, EDF Renewables together with Maple Power and its shareholders have developed and built France’s first offshore wind farm off the coast of Saint-Nazaire with a capacity of 480 MW, in operation since late 2022. In parallel, they are building Fécamp (500 MW) and Calvados (450 MW) offshore wind farms, and the Provence Grand Large floating offshore pilot project (25 MW). Finally, EDF Renewables and Enbridge are pursuing the development of the Dunkirk offshore wind farm (600 MW).
The Centre Manche 1 project is part of the French government’s ambitious objective to commission approximately 50 offshore wind farms by 2050, amounting to a capacity of 40 GW.
EDF Renewables and Maple Power are committed to continuing close dialogue and consultation, ensuring local integration throughout the development of the project, as well as during the construction and operation phases with all the stakeholders concerned (State, local authorities, industrial companies, fishermen, environmental associations, etc,). The wind farm is expected to be commissioned by approximately 2030.
Luc Rémont, EDF Group President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said: “We welcome the decision of the Ministry of Energy Transition, which confirms the quality of the work carried out by EDF Renewables and Maple Power. We are pleased to continue our trustful collaboration with the Normandy region in support of the energy transition. The Normandy offshore wind farm is fully in line with the EDF group’s strategy. It will contribute to achieving Europe and France’s objectives for carbon neutrality by 2050.”
Michael van der Heijden, CEO at Maple Power, stated: “We are delighted to have been awarded the Normandy project alongside our partner EDF Renewables, which extends our very successful collaboration and is credit to the expertise of our joint team. Securing this landmark project is another step in Maple Power’s ambitions to deliver European offshore wind projects at scale in support of the energy transition and we look forward to the next phase of developing the project.”
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