Wind turbine installation and service company Global Wind Service (GWS) has opened a new business unit in Nantes, France. This follows the recent award of the load-out and installation of the 80-turbine Saint Nazaire offshore wind farm, the first offshore wind farm in France.
“As said before, Global Wind Service has a very strong growth ambition. That, combined with the ambitious targets for French wind power development looking towards 2030 and even towards 2050, makes France a natural next step for us in terms of expansion,” states Michael Høj Olsen, GWS’ CEO. “All of this makes France an attractive market for both GWS and our clients, and it gives a solid baseline to invest in a local organization to ensure close proximity to our clients and to further strengthen our relations.”
President Emmanuel Macron has said that France intends to build around 40 GW of offshore wind by 2050. Adding to this comes onshore wind and a need for repowering of aging turbines.
According to the 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), submitted in 2021, France has a target of 33% renewable energy in its energy mix by 2030 – a 10% increase. As such, the country’s goal is to increase onshore installed capacity from 16.6 GW (in 2019) to 37.7 GW and increase offshore installed capacity from 0.002 GW (in 2019) to 7.4 GW by 2030.
