France initiates super-tender for 10 GW of offshore wind energy

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With the details of the tender published in the journal, the Government was expected to publish the specifications for the AO10 tender today (15 June 2026), on the Commission de régulation de l’énergie (CRE, French Energy Regulatory Commission) website, initiating a process that is expected to see development rights for up to 11 offshore wind projects awarded.

As highlighted by OWJ, the French government recently announced major changes to upcoming to tenders for offshore windfarms, merging the AO9 and AO10 offshore wind auctions into a single procedure.

The combined, circa 10-GW AO10 tender includes seven floating and four fixed-bottom offshore windfarms off the coast of Normandy and Brittany and in the South Atlantic and Mediterranean. The deadline for submitting applications is 12 October 2026.

Included in the huge tender are three fixed-bottom windfarms off the coast of Normandy, each with a capacity of between 1,350 MW and 1,450 MW; a floating offshore windfarm off the coast of northern Brittany, with a capacity of between 1,150 and 1,300 MW; a floating offshore windfarm off southern Brittany, with a capacity of between 400 and 550 MW; and a fixed-bottom windfarm in the South Atlantic, with a capacity of between 1,150 and 1,300 MW.

Also part of the massive tender are five floating offshore windfarms in the Mediterranean, three with a capacity of between 450 and 550 MW, one with a capacity of between 500 and 650 MW, and one with a capacity of between 1,050 and 1,200 MW. 

In an announcement on 2 April 2026 about its plans for renewable energy under the recently published Multiannual Energy Programme (PPE3), Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure and Delegate Minister for Energy Maud Bregeon confirmed that the government wanted offshore wind to scale up to 45 GW in operation by 2050, producing 20% of French electricity needs by that date.

PPE3 proposes reaching an installed offshore wind capacity of 15 GW by 2035. Currently, 2 GW are operational, and 5.6 GW are under development. The Ministers said the government would merge the AO9 and AO10 offshore wind auctions into a single procedure “that will allow the first winners to be selected by the end of 2026/beginning of 2027.”