On the French Mediterranean coast near Perpignan, work has begun on France's first offshore wind farm floating at sea. The connection for the cable, which will connect the wind turbine, which will soon be floating 18 kilometers offshore, to the power grid on land, was launched, as the power grid operator RTE announced. The turbine with three wind turbines is the first of three pilot wind farms in the Mediterranean. Subsequently, two large, floating wind farms with a capacity of 250 megawatts each are planned, which should be able to be increased to 500 megawatts.

For its future energy supply, France is not only building numerous new nuclear power plants, but also accelerating the expansion of renewable energies. Laws are to be adapted and procedures accelerated. By 2050, France wants to create around 50 offshore wind farms at sea with an output of 40 gigawatts.

As RTE announced, the construction of permanently installed offshore wind farms floating at sea must be driven forward in order to complete the energy transition and achieve the desired climate neutrality. By 2050, offshore wind farms could supply 12 to 31 percent of France's electricity.

Because of its long and windy coastlines on the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans, France is well suited for the installation of floating wind farms. However, these are not yet as technically developed as permanently installed parks.

While in firmly anchored offshore farms the wind turbines are mounted on a foundation in comparatively low water, floating parks can also be built far away from the coast at sea depths of 30 to 300 meters, RTE explained. The platform on which the wind turbines stand is moored to the seabed.