IN Brief:
- France has launched the AO10 offshore wind tender covering more than 10GW of capacity.
- The programme includes seven floating wind projects and four fixed-bottom projects.
- Bid evaluation will include price, European content, cybersecurity, and environmental performance.
France’s energy ministry has opened the AO10 offshore wind tender, covering 11 projects with just over 10GW of combined fixed-bottom and floating capacity.
The round spans several coastal zones, including Normandy, Brittany, the South Atlantic, and the Mediterranean. It includes seven floating offshore wind projects and four fixed-bottom schemes, with three 1.35GW fixed-bottom areas at Fécamp Grand Large and floating projects including Bretagne Nord Ouest and Oléron 1.
Bids are due by 12 October 2026, following a clarification period that runs until 19 July. The tender framework includes price targets, industrial criteria, cybersecurity requirements, and environmental assessment, with a stated ambition to award projects at less than €100/MWh for both fixed-bottom and floating technologies.
European content forms a prominent part of the procurement design. At least 75% of turbine components and 75% of crew transfer vessels are expected to be sourced or built in Europe, linking renewable deployment to domestic and regional industrial capacity. The requirement reflects a broader shift in offshore wind policy, where project awards are increasingly used to support supply-chain resilience as well as generation volume.
France is targeting 45GW of offshore wind by 2050, with floating wind expected to account for a large share of later deployment as the pipeline moves into deeper-water zones. The AO10 tender therefore brings together two separate but connected challenges: accelerating near-term offshore capacity and creating a viable industrial base for floating projects that remain more complex and expensive than conventional fixed-bottom schemes.
Cost pressure across the offshore wind sector remains difficult. Higher finance costs, supply-chain inflation, cable constraints, vessel availability, turbine reliability concerns, and more demanding grid connections have all changed the economics of European offshore wind since the previous phase of auctions. Tender structures now have to provide enough price discipline for governments while still allowing developers to build projects under real market conditions.
French offshore development is already moving through that tension. A recent 1.5GW offshore plan in Normandy, outlined through project filings for a major TotalEnergies-led scheme, showed how consenting, grid connection, port readiness, and construction sequencing shape large renewable projects long before turbines reach the water.
Floating wind adds a more demanding engineering layer. Mooring systems, dynamic cables, floating foundations, tow-out logistics, port assembly, inshore commissioning, and offshore hook-up all require a different delivery model from fixed-bottom wind. The technology opens stronger deeper-water wind resources, but it relies on new installation methods and supply-chain capacity that have not yet been proven at full commercial scale across Europe.
Cybersecurity requirements also reflect the changing status of offshore wind infrastructure. Large offshore arrays are digitally controlled, remotely monitored, connected to grid systems, and increasingly integrated into wider energy-market operations. Treating cybersecurity as part of procurement brings offshore wind into the same critical-infrastructure conversation as substations, transmission links, interconnectors, and energy-management platforms.
AO10 will test whether France can combine renewable capacity, industrial policy, and grid-system planning in one procurement round. Project awards will only be the first stage. The more difficult work will come through supply-chain allocation, permitting, grid connection, financing, and construction, where Europe’s offshore wind ambitions are now being measured.
