On September 22, 2022, the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the first French offshore wind farm off Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast.
Wind power only produces 8% of French electricity, thanks to onshore wind turbines. With offshore parks, the share of wind power is expected to grow. An offshore wind turbine produces twice as much energy as an onshore wind turbine.
By 2030, France plans to operate 17 off-shore wind farms. More than 700 turbines distributed in the English Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean will capture offshore winds to produce low-carbon electricity.
This Saint-Nazaire wind farm covers 78 km². It is built between twelve and twenty kilometers from the coast. The unit power of the wind turbines is 6 megawatts installed, for a total power of 480 megawatts of the entire park. The planned annual production is 1.7 TWh per year, i.e. the equivalent of the estimated consumption of around 700,000 people. The installation was designed to be able to operate for 25 years.
