TotalEnergies, RWE bid for up to 1.6-GW wind project off France

French energy major TotalEnergies (EPA:TTE) and German peer RWE AG (ETR:RWE) on Tuesday announced they have placed a joint bid in the French government’s Centre Manche 2 (AO8) tender for an offshore wind site in the English Channel, off Normandy.

The tender will award the rights to a site located about 40 km (24.9 miles) off the Cotentin peninsula that can host a wind farm with an installed capacity of between 1.4 GW and 1.6 GW. The AO8 site is situated in proximity to the AO4 area, in the tender for which RWE Renewables and TotalEnergies were pre-qualified in June 2022.

“Together, we will mobilize all our expertise to provide the best solutions to technical, commercial and societal challenges of this ambitious project, with the aim of integrating offshore wind power into a strong regional dynamic", said Vanessa Godefroy, Director of Offshore Wind Europe at TotalEnergies.

The bid application window for AO8 was until December 23, 2022. According to local media, Vattenfall, Skyborn Renewables and the Banque des Territoires have also submitted a joint proposal in the solicitation.

If selected to proceed in the AO8 tender process, RWE and TotalEnergies said they will continue the dialogue established during AO4 with local and regional stakeholders to involve them in all stages of the AO8 project. Together, the two schemes will result in the installation of roughly 2.5 GW of offshore turbine capacity that will generate electricity for around two million homes.

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