According to media sources, and unnamed officials from the French Energy Ministry, France seems to be planning a huge array of offshore wind farms totalling in 3 GW of installed capacity. The whole endeavor will require an estimated EUR 10 billion in investments. The planned projects will involve the installation of some 600 wind turbines, for which tenders will be announced by the French Energy Minister in September this year.

France plans to build offshore wind farms in ten offshore areas, that have been determined to be good locations for such projects. No final decision has been made, and studies are still going on on each of the defined zones. Even though the country has a very long coast line, France has yet to build its first offshore wind farm, and join the offshore wind club now dominated by the UK, Denmark and Germany. Its onshore wind potential has been harnessed somewhat, with numerous small to medium sized wind farm projects.

France has set a target of achieving 6 GW of installed wind power capacity by 2020.

[via: Bloomberg]