Eolmed, independent producer of renewable energy, is pleased to announce the start of construction of its floating offshore wind turbine project in Port-La Nouvelle. This initiative “Made in Occitania” for a 30 MW floating wind farm off the coast of Gruissan and Port-La Nouvelle marks the first milestone in the deployment of a true French offshore industry and announces the commercial tenders in the Mediterranean.
Creation of local employment opportunities through the construction of floating wind turbines
The opening of the construction site in Port-La Nouvelle was attended by nearly 200 people, including local and national officials, project partners and representatives of the socio-economic sector. The event was marked by speeches from Jean-Michel Alvarez, vice-president of the Communauté d’agglomération du Grand Narbonne; Didier Codorniou, first vice-president of the Occitanie region; Jean-Marc Bouchet, founder of Qair and president of EolMed; Philippe Matière, president of Archimed; and Thierry Bonnier, prefect of the Aude.
The project will create local employment opportunities, with the arrival of the first steel blocks that will make up the three floats, marking the beginning of the construction of floating wind turbines in Port-La Nouvelle. This phase is expected to take approximately 18 months and involve 250,000 man-hours, including 150,000 hours of welding on the port. The blocks, produced by Archimed, a French company formed from the merger of Matière and Ponticelli, were manufactured in Bagnac-sur-Célé in the Lot region and will be welded together in Port-La Nouvelle as a giant construction kit.
The Eolmed project in Port-La Nouvelle marks an important step in the development of the offshore wind industry in France
In addition to contributing to the energy transition, the Eolmed “Made In Occitanie” project is part of a real regional strategy that will create sustainable local jobs. “The Eolmed project is a major step forward for the renewable energy sector in France, and particularly for the Occitania region. It is part of the creation of an offshore industry in France and is positioned as a reference project for commercial tenders in the Mediterranean,” said Laurent Vergnet, CEO of EolMed.
“This project, which combines local development, energy sovereignty and national reindustrialization, was imagined fifteen years ago, and now we will assemble floating wind turbines built in France, in Occitania,” said Jean-Marc Bouchet, president of EolMed.
Qair, with 1 GW of capacity in operation and under construction, is a pioneer in the floating wind sector with Eolmed, a 30 MW floating wind farm off the coast of Gruissan (Aude), and in the tidal energy sector with FloWatt, the first pilot tidal energy farm in France and the most powerful in the world. Qair also contributed to the maintenance and operation of FloatGen, the first French floating wind turbine.
The Eolmed project in Port-La Nouvelle marks an important step in the development of the offshore wind industry in France. The project is expected to create sustainable jobs and help France achieve its energy transition goals while contributing to national reindustrialization.
