Equinor, RES and Green Giraffe have joined forces to form Océole, a partnership dedicated to developing floating offshore wind power projects in France.

Océole will evaluate and submit bids in the forthcoming floating offshore wind tender round to be held by the French government, which recently set a target of up to 6.8 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2028.

The three partners have a wide range of experience. Equinor is the world’s leading floating offshore wind developer, operating the world’s first floating wind farm, Hywind Scotland; RES has expertise in project development, operation, and maintenance in offshore wind energy, including the Bay of Saint-Brieuc project; and Green Giraffe is a specialist financial advisory firm focused on the renewable energy sector.

Jens Økland, Equinor’s senior vice president for business development in renewables, said: “France has set an ambition of becoming among the top markets for floating offshore wind in the next decade. Together with RES and Green Giraffe, we are ready to contribute long term to the country’ ambitious offshore wind plans and develop what could potentially be the first commercial floating offshore wind farm in France. As Océole, we have the industrial competence, technical and financial skills to develop projects where we can create value and capture the benefits of scale for this exciting technology.”