French offshore windfall for long-term logistics

The European Commission has launched a EUR63 billion (USD72.3 billion) French state aid scheme to build and operate 11 offshore wind farms, creating a pipeline of project logistics work over the next 25 years.

Approved under the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF), the scheme will support projects in the North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Together, the wind farms will have a combined capacity of up to 11.1 GW and are expected to generate around 47.8 TWh of renewable electricity annually.

Competitive tenders

The projects will be awarded through competitive tenders, with developers receiving support via two-way contracts for difference (CfDs). Under the mechanism, developers receive payments when market electricity prices fall below an agreed reference price, while repaying the difference when market prices exceed that level.

The CfD model came under the spotlight last year after failed offshore farm tenders in Germany and Denmark were criticised for not using the mechanism, which gives logistics and supply chain providers greater planning flexibilities.

Awarded via competitive bidding, it guarantees developers – and by extension their transport and heavy lift partners – a fixed reference price over the contract term. If market prices fall below the reference price, the state tops up the difference. If they go above it, developers pay the surplus back.

Earlier scheme

This latest French funding award represents one of Europe’s largest long-term offshore wind investments, and also replaces an earlier aid scheme for three of the offshore wind farms that had been cleared by the European Commission in August 2025, bringing all 11 projects under a single support mechanism.

The commission said the scheme was necessary, appropriate and proportionate to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy and complies with EU state aid rules under the CISAF.