Offshore wind power is on the rise: by 2050, France plans to operate 50 offshore wind farms. This rush towards wind is perhaps good news for the ecological transition, but not always for local residents. and vacationers, who accuse wind turbines of disfiguring previously preserved coastlines. The solution could come to us from Scotland… Explanations in this extract from “Special Envoy”.
Near the coasts, they are accused of disfiguring the horizon line, in addition to being dangerous for birds… Presented as an ecological response to the energy and climate crises, offshore wind turbines are not unanimously accepted. Why not move them further out to sea, as the‘Scotland ?
This country, European champion of renewable energies, is testing a new technology that does not require drilling or pillars: while the maximum depth of a fixed wind turbine is 60 meters, the structures of floating wind turbines can be installed away from the coast – and at any depth, “where the wind conditions are ideal, where the wind is the most powerful and the most regular”, explains William Munn, who runs the Hywind Scotland wind farm. To prevent them from drifting, the structures are attached to the seabed by three 680-meter anchor cables.
The first floating wind farm in the world, and the most efficient in Europe
Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating wind farm, has been operating for five years now. 25 kilometers from the coast, the site, operated by the Norwegian company Equinor, is the most efficient in Europe: it operates at full power 54% of the time, compared to 38% on average for other parks.
Enough to interest France, which could catch up in renewable energies thanks to more powerful turbines. The Atlantic and Mediterranean facades present “very, very significant potential” for floating wind power, explains Marine Simoën, development manager at Equinor France. The company is a candidate for a call for tenders for the AO5 project: a park of 15 wind turbines in the south of Brittany. More than 20 kilometers from the coast, between Belle-Ile-en-Mer and Groix, they would be equipped with semi-submersible floats.
Excerpt from “Offshore wind power: the rush towards the wind?”, a report to watch in “Special Envoy” on October 12, 2023.
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