French oil giant TotalEnergies (LON: TTE) has confirmed construction has kicked off on the Eolmed floating offshore wind farm.
Operated by Qair, the supermajor has a 20% stake in the 30 megawatt (MW) project, which is located more than 10 miles off the south coast of France.
Eolmed is expected to start up production in 2024.
It will consist of three 10 MW wind turbines mounted on steel floats and connected to the French Electricity Transmission Network (RTE) by an underwater cable.
The floats will be produced by a joint venture formed of Matiere and Ponticelli in Bagnac-sur-Célé and Port-la-Nouvelle, helping to spark new industry in the regions.
The pair will benefit from the port’s new infrastructure and will mobilise more than 600,000 man-hours of work across Occitania.
Eolmed is part of TotalEnergies’ strategy to develop floating wind energy, which allows access to deeper sites, further from the coast, and to take advantage of greater wind resources
In the UK, the company is developing the 96 MW Erebus floating project in the Celtic Sea with its partner Simply Blue Energy.
Olivier Terneaud, vice president of offshore wind at TotalEnergies, said: “We are proud to contribute through Eolmed to France’s development in floating offshore wind, a very promising segment in which TotalEnergies notably brings its extensive experience in offshore projects. Together with our partners, we will mobilize our know-how and our best resources to meet the technological and industrial challenges of this project, which meets the dual objective of developing local content while providing renewable energy.”
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