BW Ideol has brought French construction group NGE into the Fos3F floating wind foundation factory project at Fos-sur-Mer, with the two companies taking equal stakes in the venture.
The exclusive partnership will focus on the Mediterranean floating wind market. BW Ideol and NGE plan to jointly develop a serial production line at the DEOS offshore wind hub within Marseille Fos port.
The companies have submitted a joint bid for 30 ha of land supported by 400 m of quay. The planned facility would produce around 30 concrete floating foundations a year, representing approximately 500 MW of wind capacity.
Fos3F secured public support of up to €126 million earlier this year. The funding comprises as much as €74 million from the EU Innovation Fund and a French green industry tax credit of up to €52 million.
The project is being advanced as France proceeds with its combined AO9 and AO10 offshore wind round. The process covers around 10 GW of capacity, divided equally between fixed-bottom and floating projects.
Around 3.2 GW of the planned floating wind capacity is allocated to the Mediterranean.
BW Ideol has also brought in Holcim as a materials partner for planned foundation production lines in southern France and northeast Scotland. Holcim acquired a minority stake in the BW Offshore-backed floating wind developer in January.
