Principle Power has been awarded an operations and maintenance support contract for the 30 MW Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion project in the French Mediterranean.
The agreement covers the project’s three WindFloat® foundations, which support three Vestas V164-10 MW turbines. EFGL is operated by Ocean Winds in partnership with Banque des Territoires.
Under the contract, Principle Power will provide inspection, maintenance and repair services for the floating foundations, along with remote monitoring, data analytics and engineering support.
The company will use its Asset Hub application to provide real-time remote monitoring and automated operational insights for the project owner.
Day-to-day activities will be managed from the project’s O&M base at Port-La Nouvelle in Occitanie, southern France. Ocean Winds employs six local workers to maintain the platforms and related equipment, including anchor lines and inter-array cables. Vestas is responsible for turbine inspection and maintenance.
Principle Power has expanded its O&M team to provide local support for EFGL. France represents nearly 30% of the company’s global workforce.
The contract follows Principle Power’s involvement in the project’s design, construction and commissioning. Experience from the company’s other operating WindFloat® projects was used during the EFGL design phase to inform numerical predictions, maintenance strategies and operational methods.
Principle Power has developed operating experience through the 2 MW WindFloat 1, the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic and the 50 MW Kincardine Offshore Wind Farm. With the addition of EFGL, 105 MW of capacity using WindFloat® foundations is in operation across Portugal, Scotland and France.
According to Principle Power, these projects have delivered more than 1 TWh of electricity to the grid. The foundations have operated in Atlantic and North Sea conditions involving waves of up to 20 m and winds of up to 214 km/h.
EFGL consists of three 10 MW floating wind turbines located more than 16 km off Leucate and Le Barcarès in southern France. The pilot project is planned to operate for 20 years and is expected to meet the annual electricity needs of more than 50,000 residents.
The project was selected by the French state through an ADEME call for floating wind projects under the France 2030 investment programme.
Ocean Winds and Banque des Territoires are also developing the 250 MW Eoliennes Flottantes d’Occitanie project, which was awarded by the French state in late 2024.
