The first floating wind turbine for the Provence Grand Large offshore wind project set sail to its site on Monday, located more than 17 kilometres off the coast of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône in France.

The floating wind farm will comprise three Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines installed on tensioned line floats and designed by SBM Offshore and IFP Energies Nouvelles.

The turbine components, manufactured at Siemens Gamesa’s factory in Le Havre, arrived in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône in April this year, while the first turbine was assembled in July.

The 24 MW floating offshore wind project is situated 40 kilometres west of Marseille and 17 kilometres off the coast of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, in water depths of around 100 metres.

The Provence Grand Large floating offshore wind farm is owned by Parc Eolien Offshore de Provence Grand Large – a subsidiary of EDF Renouvelables, and Enbridge Eolien France 2 S.à.r.l (EEF2), a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc. and CPP Investments.

The project is scheduled to be completed this year when it will produce the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 45,000 inhabitants.