French Areva to set up offshore wind energy R&D centre in Rouen

Jan 10, 2014 - French nuclear engineer Areva (EPA:AREVA) said on Thursday it plans to establish a research and development (R&D) centre for offshore wind power in Rouen, northern France, which would employ some 100 engineers.

The new R&D centre will tighten cooperation with universities and local research institutes with the aim to create an industry for offshore wind power in France.

The project is linked to Areva's participation in the second offshore wind power tender launched by France, as part of a consortium led by French utility GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ) and including Portugal's EDP (ELI:EDP) and French renewable energy company Neoen .

Areva will be in charge of producing a new type of wind turbine, with a capacity of 8 MW.

The result of the tender, concerning two 500-MW farms off the coasts of Treport, Yeu and Noirmoutier, northern and western France, will be known by the end of the first quarter of 2014.

According to Frederic Lanoe, head of EDP Renewables France, the R&D centre will be built if Areva's consortium wins the contract.

Areva has already won the contract for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, in partnership with Spanish Iberdrola (MCE:IBE), in the first tender launched by the French government.

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