TotalEnergies has started construction on the Eolmed project, operated by Qair and in which TotalEnergies has a 20% stake.
The 30 MW project is located more than 18 km off the coast of Gruissan and Port la Nouvelle (Occitan region) in France. The start of production is expected by 2024. The wind farm will consist of three 10 MW wind turbines mounted on steel floats and connected to the French Electricity Transmission Network (RTE) by an underwater cable.
The project meets the objectives of the partners to ensure its good environmental integration and to promote the know-how of the Occitanie Region thanks to the involvement of all the stakeholders. Eolmed is part of the Occitanie Region’s strategy to relocate industrial production; the consortium has chosen a joint venture formed by Matière and Ponticelli to produce the floats in Bagnac-sur-Célé (Lot) and Port-la-Nouvelle (Aude). This joint venture will benefit from the port’s new infrastructure and will mobilize more than 600,000 man-hours of work across Occitania.
This project is part of TotalEnergies’ strategy to develop floating wind energy, which allows access to deeper sites, further from the coast, and to take advantage of greater wind resources. The company is developing this technology in France and abroad through several projects at different stages of development
In France, in addition to the Eolmed project in the Mediterranean Sea, the company is participating in a tender in Brittany to develop a floating wind farm with Green Investment Group and Qair. In South Korea, TotalEnergies is developing a portfolio of over 2 GW of floating offshore wind with Green Investment Group. The company is developing the 96 MW Erebus project in the Celtic Sea with its partner Simply Blue Energy in the U.K. In the United States, TotalEnergies launched the TotalEnergies SBE US joint venture with Simply Blue Group to contribute to the growth of floating wind in the country.
“We are proud to contribute through Eolmed to France’s development in floating offshore wind, a very promising segment in which TotalEnergies notably brings its extensive experience in offshore projects,” says Olivier Terneaud, VP of offshore wind at TotalEnergies. “Together with our partners, we will mobilize our know-how and our best resources to meet the technological and industrial challenges of this project, which meets the dual objective of developing local content while providing renewable energy.”
