The energy supplier Vattenfall, the public French financial institution Caisse des Dépôts and the German windfarm developer wpd, have been busy with the planning of a joint offshore project named Éliade since 2016. Today they are announcing that they are setting up a strong alliance in order to prepare a bid for the Dunkerque wind farm tender.

„This triad provides an ideal starting point for successfully implementing the project because it unites the experience of offshore specialists Vattenfall, Caisse des Dépôts and wpd,“ says Vincent Balès, Managing Director of wpd offshore France S.A.S. The three players have already implemented a total of 14 offshore wind farms in Europe. In France, they are involved in five projects out of the six which are in development on the French coast. „The constellation of Vattenfall, Caisse des Dépôts and wpd has already proved itself in the past. We have successfully implemented various projects like Sandbank or Butendiek together,“ says Balès.

The project site of Éliade is located near the port of Dunkerque on the sandbank of Flanders. It is one of the regions with the most winds in France. At the moment, there are conversations with business representatives, site users and local environmental organizations taking place to achieve the best offer for the realization of the offshore wind farm.

About the tender

This is the third time that the French government has made sites available for offshore wind tenders. Ten companies were selected for the project, rated at 250-750 MW, in a prequalification phase in May 2017, including Vattenfall. Currently, the three companies are working together to draw up the offer, and the bids will ultimately be judged on three criteria: price, optimal exploitation of the wind power zone and consideration for the environment. The winner is expected to be announced during the second half of this year.

About wpd

wpd is a developer and operator of onshore and offshore wind farms worldwide, and is actively engaged in 18 countries. The head office is in Bremen. For more than 20 years the company has been realising projects which now total 2,180 wind turbines with a total capacity of 4,400 megawatts. On an international scale, wpd is planning projects of around 8,050 megawatts onshore and over 5,200 megawatts offshore. wpd has planned numerous offshore wind farms. In December 2017 the German nearshore project Nordergründe was connected to the grid with a capacity of 111 megawatts. www.wpd.de