Dutch floating technologies firm SBM Offshore has been picked to provide a floating wind systems solution for a pilot project, offshore France.
EDF Energies Nouvelles was selected by the French government last week to construct a pilot floating wind farm for its Provence Grand Large project.
The move followed a call for projects by the Environment and Energy Management Agency - Agence de L'Environnement et de La Maitrise de L'Energie (ADEME).
Subject to the project achieving committed financing, SBM would win a contract covering engineering, procurement, construction and installation services for three floating systems.
SBM says it been active over the last 10 years in development of offshore, renewable energy technologies. The firm has also worked with IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN), the French Research Institute, to further develop a floating system. IFPEN will also provide engineering services to SBM Offshore for the Provence Grand Large project.
SBM says its design, a minimal footprint floater, represents an economical solution for the development of floating wind farms, both in terms of CAPEX, thanks to a light and optimized structure and in terms of OPEX thanks to reduced motion and stress on the turbine components. The solution can be assembled and deployed using existing construction and port infrastructure, it says.