Ocean Winds, Sumitomo Corporation, and la Banque des Territoires as shareholders of the company “Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe Le Tréport” (EMDT), announce today the final investment decision for the Dieppe Le Tréport project, the sixth fixed bottom offshore wind farm to be commissioned in France from 2026 and located off the coast in the English Channel.
The project involves the construction and installation of an offshore wind farm located 15 km off the Tréport city and 17 km off Dieppe city. The 62 wind turbines will supply 850,000 people with electricity each year, the equivalent of 2/3 of the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime, or more than all the inhabitants of the Somme department.
The Dieppe Le Tréport wind farm represents an investment of around €2.7 billion. The signing of all the financing agreements took place on April 26th, 2023.
- Nine years of development
Winner in 2014 of the call for tenders launched by the State in 2013, the project has been developing since then, in a constant commitment to dialogue with local elected officials, fishermen and users of the sea, socio-economic actors and the general public.. Detailed engineering studies, environmental studies and the creation of a Scientific Interest Group to follow-up and accompany the environmental impacts of the wind farm, from its construction to its exploitation, have also been carried out. The administrative authorisations were obtained in 2019 and the appeals were lifted before the French courts at the end of last year.
- Start of the construction phase
The final investment decision opens the way for the manufacturing and construction phase of the project.
From 2024, maritime work will start by the installation of the piles. At the same time, RTE, which is responsible for the connection of the wind farm, will set up a double submarine connection to transfer the electricity generated at sea to the onshore grid. The installation of the jackets and the electrical substation built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire will follow in 2025. DEME will be responsible for the transport and installation of the foundations, the substation and the construction, transport and installation of the inter array cables in 2026.
The wind turbines, produced by Siemens Gamesa in its Le Havre facility, will be installed by Jan de Nul Group during 2026.
The wind farm is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2026.
The construction phase of the EMDT wind farm, which will last 3 years, will create 1,300 direct jobs in France. It will contribute to the development of the French offshore wind energy industry.
- The financing structure
The project involves robust international public and private financing, led by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and a syndicate of 16 banks: 6 French banks, 4 Japanese banks, 2 British banks, 2 Spanish banks, 1 German bank and 1 Dutch bank. The financing is provided through shareholders backed financing and non-recourse debt. It was raised with the support of Société Générale, who acted as the financial advisor to the project.
“I would like to thank the teams and our partners for their dedication in reaching this emblematic milestone! We will continue the collective adventure of building the EMDT windfarm with the same enthusiasm” says Paolo Cairo, President of the “Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe Le Tréport” company.
- Ocean Winds
Ocean Winds, an international company dedicated to offshore wind energy and created as a 50-50 joint venture in 2020 by ENGIE and EDP Renewables, is the majority shareholder and has been developing the project from the beginning.
“We are delighted to now count with three offshore wind farms under construction in France, representing 1 GW and enough clean energy to supply 1.7 million households. France is a key market for Ocean Winds, with a tremendous potential, and the home of one of our sponsors ENGIE. This FID also represents our third project finance in the month of April 2023 only, securing a total investment of around 7.4 billion euros and highlighting Ocean Winds as a leader in delivering offshore wind farms in a dynamic yet challenging context.” says Grzegorz Gorski, Chief Operating Officer of Ocean Winds and chairman of the Board of Directors of EMDT.
- Banque des Territoires
“The financial investment decision and senior financing of this large-scale offshore wind farm in Dieppe-Le Tréport mark a second major milestone of offshore wind deployment in France, shortly after the launch of construction of the Noirmoutier project. The Banque des Territoires will pursue its support to these projects that constitute a cornerstone of the French energy policy, and a great opportunity for local development.” says Emmanuel Legrand, Director of the Energy and Ecological Transition of Banque des Territoires.
- Sumitomo Corporation
“Sumitomo Corporation is pleased to announce the start of construction of the EMDT wind farm, which is the 2nd offshore wind project in France and 8th European offshore wind project for us with a total capacity of approximately 3GW. We would like to express our gratitude for the project team for their hard work and also all stakeholders for their continuous support. The achievement of FID and commencement of the construction works of EMDT is an extremely important milestone for us, as we are aiming to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 and increase the supply of renewable energy in order to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. In France, we will continue our efforts to contribute to achieving the French renewable energy targets through other offshore wind projects including floating offshore wind projects” concludes Koichi Taniguchi, Corporate Officer and General Manager of Global Power Infrastructure Business Division.
