Very complicated and expensive. Shell has decided to withdraw from a pilot project of floating wind turbines off Groix and Belle-Île-en-Mer (Morbihan), a €300 million program run by a consortium bringing together Shell. dépôts) and the Chinese China General Nuclear Power Group.

The company in “Many technical, commercial and financial challenges are faced, all in the context of ever-increasing costs and tighter regulations, both in terms of inflation and supply chain.”He explained in a press release on Tuesday, November 15. Confirming information from Echoes.

The Breton program was to make it possible to test three floating wind turbines, which would allow wind farms to be placed deeper than wind turbines that spin on the seabed.

The plan had already come up against the withdrawal of turbine maker General Electric, which supplies 6 MW of wind turbines, then Vestas, and float maker Naval Group, which later sold its operations in the sector. Shell acquired the business in 2019 by buying Iolfi, a former subsidiary of Veolia and pioneer of floating wind power.

“Order of Operation”

In the eyes of the government, this disappointment does not call into question France’s progress in this area. Of course, the state “sorry” This abandonment; “However, three other pilot farms will be commissioned in the next two years, while France is too early (about eight years) to develop a strong wind energy sector »According to the Energy Transition Ministry, this year also recalls the launch of commercial calls for tenders for floating parks ten times the size of the pilots, one in the south of Brittany and two in the Mediterranean.

The state has allocated 300 million euros through the France 2030 plan to support the development of the technologies, industrial and port facilities necessary for the rise of a hexagonal region. France, which is to inaugurate its first wind farm in a few days (with eighty wind turbines installed under it) facing Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique), relies on floating technology to meet its ambitions: about 40 gigawatts. Fifty parks by 2050.

Three other floating pilot farms have been announced in the Mediterranean. The floats of the planned project in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône (Bouche-du-Rhône) were unveiled on Monday.