In September 2025, the Occitanie region of France witnessed a milestone event in the global energy sector – Ocean Winds successfully completed the world’s first deepwater floating wind power project (EFGL Project). This project not only breaks the water depth limit of traditional offshore wind power but also pioneers a “symbiosis with nature” design, opening up a new track for the global development of renewable energy and redefining the relationship between clean energy and ecological protection.
Traditional offshore wind power is limited by technology and can only operate in shallow waters with a depth of less than 50 meters, while the EFGL Project completely smashes this “ceiling”. Adopting a floating foundation and equipped with three 10MW turbines, the project is like a “floating power station at sea”, firmly settled in the sea area 16 kilometers off the coast with a water depth far exceeding 50 meters. Its construction mode is equally innovative: all equipment is first assembled at the factory in Port-La Nouvelle, then transported to the designated sea area by special tugboats, and finally fixed to the seabed with anchor chains. This “onshore assembly and offshore positioning” method not only reduces the risks of offshore construction but also shortens the construction period by nearly 30%.
In terms of energy output, the three turbines can generate approximately 120 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually, which is sufficient to meet the annual electricity demand of 50,000 households. This is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 60,000 tons per year, roughly the annual emissions of 30,000 family cars. More importantly, the project has verified the feasibility of deepwater wind power. Data shows that shallow sea areas suitable for traditional offshore wind power account for only 15% of the global ocean area, while deepwater areas account for more than 80%. The success of the EFGL Project is like opening a “Pandora’s box” for deepwater wind power; in the future, deepwater areas such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are expected to become new “wind power granaries”. Notably, the French government has long regarded the development of deepwater floating wind power as a core part of its national energy transition strategy, providing policy support such as tax incentives and simplified approval procedures for the EFGL Project in its early stage, which laid a solid foundation for the smooth progress of the project.
Beyond technological breakthroughs, the EFGL Project has also delivered outstanding results in ecological protection and commercialization. As the world’s first “nature-symbiotic” floating wind farm, the project team installed a large number of “Biohuts” (biological huts) made of environmentally friendly materials on the turbine foundations and anchor chains. These mesh structures are like “apartment buildings on the seabed”, providing spaces for small fish to avoid natural enemies, allowing shellfish to attach and reproduce, and even enabling corals to gradually “settle down”. Within three months of the trial operation, more than 20 species of marine organisms have been active around the “Biohuts”, and the biodiversity has increased by 40% compared with the surrounding natural sea areas. This perfectly proves that clean energy and ecological protection can be “pursued simultaneously”, and this design has been incorporated into the new EU offshore wind power standards.
At the commercial level, before the project was put into operation, the French government completed the world’s first competitive bidding for deepwater floating wind power at a price of 86 euros per megawatt-hour. This price has dropped by nearly 50% compared with that five years ago and is already close to the cost of traditional shallow-water offshore wind power, marking the transformation of deepwater wind power from a “money-burning experimental product” to a marketable “profitable project”. Currently, France is advancing the 250MW EFLO Project (more than 8 times the scale of the EFGL Project), and the EU has even set a goal of achieving 30GW of floating wind power installed capacity by 2030, which is equivalent to the scale of 300 EFGL Projects, demonstrating Europe’s determination to “take the lead” in the deepwater wind power track.
The project has also brought multiple benefits to the local area. During the construction period, local shipyards received orders for turbine foundation manufacturing, creating more than 200 new jobs; the port expanded its docks and trained professional offshore construction personnel as it took on the task of equipment assembly and transportation; the catering and hotel businesses in nearby towns also flourished. Ocean Winds has also collaborated with local schools to launch “offshore wind power operation and maintenance” courses, planning to cultivate local talents who understand both technology and ecology, and leaving a “sustainable employment chain” for the local area.
The significance of the EFGL Project goes far beyond the label of “the world’s first”; it provides a key insight for the global development of new energy: technological breakthroughs need to focus on “undeveloped areas”, and ecological protection should be transformed from an “additional task” to a “mandatory requirement”. Although deepwater wind power still faces challenges such as reducing the cost of floating foundations and coping with extreme deep-sea storms, as Jérémy de Barbarin, the project director, said, “The first person to try something new will always encounter challenges, but as long as the first step is taken, the rest of the journey will be easier.” With the surging global demand for clean energy, deepwater floating wind power is expected to become the next “new energy trend”, and France’s breakthrough this time has undoubtedly injected strong momentum into this trend. What’s more, this project serves as a remarkable example of how advanced energy technology can drive the sustainable development of both the energy industry and the environment, setting a benchmark for future global deepwater wind power initiatives.
