France is announcing that it is to install six hundred offshore wind turbines, to be distributed across five different sites, between Saint-Nazaire and Dieppe, Le Treport. The wind turbines will have a capacity of 3,000 megawatts of power.
This massive project will help the French government with its aim to generate 23% of France’s power from renewable sources by 2020.
France is following other European countries such as England, Scotland and Denmark in developing offshore wind projects, Other countries currently developing similar wind farms include Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and Sweden. France’s offshore wind has been slow to develop, compared to some of these other European nations.
Offshore farms come with some significant technical challenges, such as how to handle wind turbine gearbox failures in the middle of the European winter, out at sea.
The tender will be run by the French energy regulator, and wind power is expected to start being generated by 2015.
Via CleanTechies
Image CC licensed by PEBondestad
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