By Kari Williamson
The 3 GW of offshore wind could be commissioned as early as 2015 with 500-600 wind turbines representing an investment of €10 billion. A second 3 GW phase is expected to be announced in April 2012 for 2020, as part of France's aim to meet 23% of energy demand from renewable sources by 2020, Reuters writes.
The four consortia are largely made up of French and Spanish companies, and between them, they have submitted 10 bids in total, Expatia adds.
Iberdrola-consortium
Iberdrola is leading an offshore wind consortium with wind turbine manufacturer Areva, engineering and construction company Technip, design, development, construction and operation firm Eole-Res Consortium, and the developer Neoen Marine.
The offshore wind consortium has bid for the 500 MW site Saint-Brieuc in Côte d'Amor in Brittany, and the 480 MW Saint-Nazaire site in Loire-Atlantique on the Atlantic coast.
Areva would supply all the wind turbines, which would be built at its new factory in Le Havre, north west France.
EDF-EN-consortium
Another large consortium, is the one led by EDF Energies Nouvelles, and consists of DONG Energy, Nass&Wind Offshore and wpd Offshore, with Alstom as the exclusive wind turbine supplier.
The offshore wind consortium has submitted bids for four sites: Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Brieuc, Courseulles-sur-Mer and the Fécamp site.
EDF-EN says if all four bids come through, it could see the creation of up to 7500 jobs in France.
Alstom would, for example, manufacture its next-generation 6 MW offshore wind turbines at planned sites in Saint-Nazaire and Cherbourg.