France’s 9mo wind additions grow as offshore wind gains speed

France commissioned almost 2 GW of wind turbine generation capacity, marking a 26.6% rise in annual terms thanks to a significant increase in the offshore segment, government statistics show.

The newly installed capacity of 1,959 MW in the first three quarters compares with 1,547 MW of plants put on stream in the year-ago period. They brought the country’s cumulative installed wind farm capacity to 23,443 MW, of which 21,956 MW are onshore parks.

In January-September, France switched on 966 MW of ground-based wind power facilities, against 1,067 MW in the same period of 2022, while offshore installations more than doubled to 993 MW after the partial grid-connection of the Saint-Brieuc and Fecamp parks. Roughly 57% of the capacity that became operational came from installations ranging between 8 MW and 12 MW. Hauts-de-France and New Aquitaine were the regions with the highest installed capacity in the period, contributing 297 MW and 183 MW, respectively.

France’s wind parks produced 33 TWh of electricity in the nine months and were responsible for 10.2% of the national electricity consumption. The power output was 30% higher from a year before due to the more favourable weather conditions.

Around 14,800 MW of wind projects were in the permitting stages at the end of September, of which 11,600 MW onshore and 3,200 MW offshore.

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