The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €450m ($506.8m) credit line to a consortium of EDF Renewables, Canada’s Enbridge and German developer Wpd to co-finance the construction of the 497MW Fécamp offshore wind farm.
It is the first time the EIB, which is owned by EU member states, has financed a French offshore wind project, after having funded wind at sea in Belgium, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands, reinforcing the objectives set by shareholders in late 2019 to make it the EU climate bank.
“The European Union is backing the construction of the biggest wind farm in France. The project will provide clean energy to some 770 000 people and create over 1,400 jobs in the local area,” EU Commissioner for the economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said.
“It is a perfect example of what we can achieve under the European Green Deal – and another step towards a climate-neutral EU by 2050.”
This financing will be guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, otherwise known as the Juncker Plan.
The €2bn project 13 km off the French coast is scheduled to be operational in 2023, featuring 71 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 machines.
Enbridge and EDF each own 35% in Fécamp, while Wpd owns another 30%.
Offshore wind was slow to take off in France, with first projects, such as the 480MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind array, or Fécamp, about to be built. The first wave of French offshore wind projects had already been auctioned off in 2012 and 2014, but lengthy administrative and court hurdles had delayed the projects by many years.
