France, Norway back floating wind
France and Norway announced a partnership to strengthen Europe’s floating offshore wind sector with a focus on building supply chains and upgrading port infrastructure to scale renewables deployment. The pact aims to position Europe as a leader in green energy manufacturing and logistics. (compositesworld.com)
Norwegian Offshore Wind signed a memorandum of understanding with France Offshore Renewables, an alliance made up of six regional French clusters: Bretagne Ocean Power, Normandie Maritime, Neopolia, Aquitaine Blue Energies, Wind’Occ and SudEole. ( compositesworld.com ) The MOU frames three concrete workstreams — driving joint industry collaboration, identifying strategic opportunities across value chains, and delivering concrete activities for member firms — with Bretagne Ocean Power scheduled to host exchange workshops in Brittany in autumn 2026. ( compositesworld.com ) Paris secured European Commission approval for an ~€11 billion state‑aid package to back three French floating wind farms (each around 500 MW and together expected to produce ~2.2 TWh), a funding backdrop that underpins the alliance’s industrialisation push. ( ec.europa.eu ) French project activity is already moving: consortia led by Ocean Winds (with Banque des Territoires) and by EDF Renewables (with Maple Power) won AO6 floating‑wind site rights in December 2024 for Mediterranean zones. ( offshorewind.biz ) Norway is advancing complementary capacity: the government proposed a 35 billion NOK support scheme for early floating tenders and saw competing bids from Equinor‑led and Deep Wind/EDF‑linked consortia as project‑area allocations were slated for the first half of 2026. ( regjeringen.no ) ( offshore-mag.com ) Port coordination is already being formalised at scale — ABP, BrestPort and Shannon Foynes announced a Global Floating Offshore Wind Ports Alliance in November 2025 to accelerate port upgrades — while France Offshore Renewables highlights dedicated regional port infrastructure and a network of some 500 French companies aligned behind national offshore targets. ( news.europawire.eu ) ( franceoffshorerenewables.fr ) France’s early pilot milestone — the 25 MW Provence Grand Large floating project fully commissioned in June 2025 — provides an operational reference point as the Franco‑Norwegian activities seek to translate pilot learnings into industrial‑scale procurement and port logistics plans. ( edf.fr )
