Macron green plan raises hopes for 10GW French offshore wind mega-tender

French President Emmanuel Macron has outlined an ‘ecological plan’ aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions through a series of measures including new offshore wind farms, raising hopes in the industry for a massive new tender of up to 10GW.

While Macron’s speech after a meeting of government ministers lacked detail or targets for wind at sea, the president referred to an ongoing maritime spatial planning update and new zoning for future projects.

A public debate on that issue is slated to kick off in November and last for around six months, the president said, according to France Renewables, the industry body formerly called the French Wind Power Association.

“She did not mention figures, but the industry proposes a 10GW tender,” Monnier said, adding that the government apparently already started to prepare de-risking surveys on future zones for a massive tender.

“The precise zones will be selected after the MSP (maritime spatial plan) update; the renewables acceleration law (passed in March 2023) asks for a precise mapping of zones for offshore wind projects until 2050,” he said.

The potential massive offshore wind tender in France would come as several European countries are increasing tendering volumes for wind at sea after boosting their offshore wind targets.

Germany earlier this year held a 7GW tender for far-offshore sites in the North Sea that haven’t been pre-developed yet, which was the country’s biggest auction for wind at sea so far – and also one of the world’s largest that didn’t only grant seabed development rights but also the right to build and operate offshore wind farms.

It is unclear how big the appetite for massive new offshore wind acreage in France will be.

France has said that it also will operate CfD-style auctions for future offshore wind allocation, while Germany allows zero-subsidy tenders that result in operators gaining the wholesale market electricity price once their wind farms are up and running – which may or may not be higher than a CfD strike price.

The French president in his ecology plan also said his country by 2027 will reach a production capacity for heat pumps of one million per year, exit coal by 2027, and be producing one million electric vehicles annually by that date.

France’s goal is to go "from 60% fossil fuels to 40% by 2030" Macron is quoted as saying in French media. Macron also somewhat watered down the country’s ambition of phasing out heat boilers and didn’t mention solar energy at all.