With an eye squarely on the first round of presidential elections on 22 April, Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration awarded 1.93GW of offshore wind capacity, with winners committing to invest €7bn ($9.2bn) and create 10,000 direct jobs.

Such was the government’s hurry, days before the results were announced utility giant EDF was telling people it, along with partner Alstom, had won the lion’s share of the five areas on offer — based on regulator CRE’s confidential recommendations.