BW Ideol, NGE Join Forces on Floating Wind Factory in France

BW Ideol and French construction group NGE have formed an equal partnership to develop a floating foundation manufacturing facility in southern France, aiming to support the rollout of floating offshore wind projects in the Mediterranean.

Under the agreement, NGE will acquire a 50% stake in Fos3F, BW Ideol's project to establish a serial production line for concrete floating wind foundations at Fos-sur-Mer, where the partners have jointly submitted a bid for a 30-hectare site at the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille.

The planned facility would have the capacity to manufacture around 30 floating foundations a year, equivalent to approximately 500 megawatts of annual offshore wind capacity.

The partnership comes as France launches its AO10 offshore wind tender, which is expected to increase the country's planned floating offshore wind capacity to more than 5 GW, including 3.7 GW in the Mediterranean.

The project secured up to $143.5 million in public support last year, comprising a grant of up to $84.3 million from the European Union's Innovation Fund and a tax credit of up to $59.2 million euros under France's green industry investment scheme.

BW Ideol said the Fos3F facility is expected to support the supply of more than 200 floating foundations between 2030 and 2037 and create more than 1,300 direct jobs in the Fos-sur-Mer area.

The partners said the collaboration combines BW Ideol's floating offshore wind technology with NGE's expertise in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects to support the development of a domestic floating wind supply chain in France.