Principle Power has been awarded the operations and maintenance (O&M) support contract for the 30 MW Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) wind project in the French Mediterranean, operated by Ocean Winds (OW) in partnership with la Banque des Territoires.

The agreement with EFGL covers the three WindFloat

®

foundations, which host three Vestas V164-10 MW turbines, the most powerful turbines operating on floating foundations to date.

The contract covers integrated O&M services for the floating foundations, including inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR), remote monitoring, data analytics, and engineering support to the project owner. Principle Power will leverage its newly developed Asset Hub application to enable remote, real-time monitoring and automated insights, to strength the client’s operational decision-making.

Day-to-day operations will be handled at the project’s O&M base located at the Port-La Nouvelle in Occitanie, Southern France. OW employs six local workers for the maintenance of the platforms and ancillary equipment (e.g. anchor lines, inter-array cables) alongside with Vestas for the turbines’ inspection and maintenance. Principle Power has extended its O&M team to support the project locally, strengthening its presence in France, which represents nearly 30% of its global workforce.

Jeremy de Barbarin, Project Director of EFGL – OW, commented: “This contract with Principle Power constitutes a strategic asset for EFGL and strengthens the long-standing relationship between OW and Principle Power, which began over 15 years ago, with a 6-year-long operating expertise build on OW’s first floating wind farm, the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic. Principle Power will deploy their proven expertise in floating foundation technologies to assist the OW team in maximising system availability, reliability, and efficiency. This close collaboration in O&M builds on the work Principle Power has already accomplished during the project’s design, construction, and commissioning phases.”

Clara de Moura Santos, Vice President of O&M, Principle Power, added: “This award builds on Principle Power’s operating track record in floating wind and reinforces our role as a provider of integrated O&M support and services. Working with the client, Vestas, and project partners, we applied our operational experience from the earliest design stages to address day-to-day asset management requirements and support long-term reliability. During the EFGL design phase, Principle Power’s experience across our operating WindFloat projects informed numerical predictions, maintenance strategies, and operational methodologies. Now, the project’s operational learnings will help inform the fourth generation, fully industrialised WindFloat technologies.”

Principle Power has developed its operating experience across three floating wind projects: the 2 MW WindFloat 1, the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic, and the 50 MW Kincardine offshore wind farm. With the 30 MW EFGL project, OW’s second operating floating wind farm, Principle Power holds 105 MW of deployed capacity using WindFloat foundations that have shown reliable performance in demanding Atlantic and North Sea metocean conditions, withstanding waves of 20 m and winds up to 214 km/h, while delivering more than 1 TWh of energy to the grid.

The EFGL contract marks the latest deployment of WindFloat technology in France and supports the transition of floating wind towards commercial scale in France and other international markets like the UK or South Korea.

Image credit: LEFGL/Ocean Winds.