French authorities have announced the list of 12 consortia and developers qualified for the AO9 round, aiming to award up to 2.5 GW of floating offshore wind projects located across four different sites. France has recently significantly increased its ambitions for offshore wind, identifying new project areas for development until 2050, providing long-term visibility and a commitment to offshore wind build out.

The AO9 list contains some familiar names for the French market, including EDF and Iberdrola, and introduces some new players for the French market, like Swedish Ingka and Japanese Kansai. Full list of qualified developers:

• BayWa r,e EMEA
• Elicio/ Q Energy/ Kansai Energy Company
• EnBW Energie/ Valeco
• EDF/ Maple Power
• Iberdrola
• OW Ocean Winds/ Banque des Territories
• Oxan/ Ingka Investments
• Eni Plenitude/ Qair Group
• Parkwind
• RWE
• Skyborn Renewables/Octupus Energy
• TotalEnergies

The AO9 round aims to award four offshore wind areas suited for floating projects, including:

• South Brittany (500 MW)
• Fos-sur-Mer (500 MW)
• Occitanie (500 MW)
• South Atlantic (1000 MW)

All the AO9 areas are in close proximity to existing areas for offshore wind, all currently in the process of being awarded to a developer, with the exception of the Bretagne Sud site, which was awarded to BayWa and Elicio in the AO5 round earlier this year. The round will now continue into the competitive dialogue phase, and the final deadline for submitting bids is expected next year.

Image Credit: Iberdrola