Areva is accelerating its offensive in offshore wind
On the eve of the holiday season, Areva offers a nice gift. It is not in the register as expected. The French group, world leader in nuclear power, has indeed won a contract worth 400 million euros in offshore wind. Made official Thursday, the order calls for the construction, implementation and maintenance of 40 turbines of 5 megawatts M5000 (MW) each. These facilities are for the park Borkum West II, located in the North Sea.
Commissioning is planned for 2012-2013. Thanks to the 200 MW installed, Areva will supply electricity to some 200,000 homes. Often double as the contract signed with Trianel, an association of several German utilities, including an option – exerting in 2011 – for forty additional turbines. Incidentally, the French group was pleased that "eleven of the first rank banks committed themselves to fund this project."Evidence at his eyes firmly believe that investors in the development of green electricity.
Areva, which regularly insists on its uniqueness as an energy "low-carbon" – nuclear over renewable – the niche has invested in wind energy in 2007, taking 51% of the German manufacturer Multibrid payday advance low fees. Last spring, he bought the remaining 49%. Multibrid became Wind Areva, a 100% subsidiary of Areva and solely dedicated to offshore wind.
The company currently boasts some 600 MW of projects. It has already commissioned six turbines M5000 Alpha Ventus, the first German offshore wind farm, also located in the North Sea, 45 km from Borkum.
Candidate in France
For the moment, France is still far behind Germany and especially Great Britain in development of offshore wind.However, the government is considering launching a call for tenders for all the French coastlines. A project of over 10 billion euros had sketched Borloo before leaving the Department of Ecology.
Even if the specification is yet to be finalized, the group led by Anne Lauvergeon is already in the running. Like all large energy companies, hoping that such tender will be discriminating, "as to the operators select the most serious," says one expert on the issue.
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