FOWT, the largest international conference dedicated to floating wind turbines, was held in Brest from April 23 to 25. Over 1,000 industry professionals from all over the world attended. During the three days of the Floating Offshore Wind Turbain Conference, Brittany demonstrated its mobilization and pioneering status on the subject of floating wind and, more broadly, Offshore Renewables. Here’s a look back at the highlights of the event.
“Welcoming FOWT, once again in Brittany, underlines the Region’s ambitions for the deployment of offshore floating wind power.” With these words, Daniel Cueff, Vice President of the regional Council of Brittany, in charge of the sea and the coastline, introduced a press day organized by Bretagne Ocean Power as a prelude to the FOWT event itself.
“With well-stabilized local agreements and clearly-defined milestones set by the European Union, we can make OREs, and floating wind turbines in particular, an exciting industrial adventure. It reconciles local development with human ingenuity and the ambition to produce energy for the future. Public acceptance is essential to the success of all projects, to affirm that this energy is desirable, and that its industry is expected and welcome on our coasts”, said Loïg Chesnais-Girard, President of the regional Council of Brittany, in his inaugural speech at the opening of FOWT, before the delegates, who were able to gauge the extent of Brittany’s active commitment to ORE.
A collective presence with the 3 other regions involved in floating wind turbines
But it was also alongside the other regions collectively partnering the event that the Brittany Region was able to convey messages useful to the deployment of the industry: along with the regions of Pays de la Loire, Occitanie and Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, they reiterated their commitment to the development of floating wind power, whether through their port infrastructures, support for their companies and R&D players, or the many upcoming projects off their coasts.
On their shared stand in the Quartz lounges, a number of highlights highlighted the projects deployed in their territories:
Representatives from BrestPort, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire Port and Port La Nouvelle presented the infrastructures developed and made available to support the deployment of floating wind farm projects.
Herveline Gaborieau, from France Énergies Marines, and Xavier Rebour, Director of France Cyber Maritime, outlined the partnership between the two organizations, designed to ensure the digital resilience of ORE.
Representatives from Groupe Qair, EDF Renouvelables, Eolink and OceanWinds pitched their various floating wind pilot projects off the French coast.
Craig Brown, representing Innosea, also presented the results of the study on possible co-activities in offshore wind farms, commissioned by the Brittany Region.
Cooperation with MRE players in the Celtic Arc
Numerous institutional and economic delegations from the Celtic countries made the trip, notably from Asturias, Scotland and Ireland, which enabled Brittany to pursue its cooperation with these countries, and to reaffirm its strategic position at the heart of the Celtic Sea market.
Invited to introduce a special session on the challenges inherent in the development of large-scale floating wind farm projects in Scotland, Daniel Cueff recalled the links forged between the Breton and Scottish communities at COP 26 in Glasgow in 2021. This union is now being extended on a reciprocal basis to benefit Breton and Scottish businesses, and is essential for consolidating Europe’s wind energy industry.
The ports of BrestPort and Shannon Foynes Port also took the opportunity to formalise a strategic partnership by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a framework for joint initiatives to support the development of the floating wind energy (FOW) value chain.
Numerous side-events organised for the benefit of Breton companies
Many local companies took advantage of FOWT’s presence in Brittany to showcase their expertise and references as exhibitors or speakers at workshops: SEA360, ALOTECH SARL, EOLINK, Otecmi (SGS), Cervval, TSM Windcat, Hytech-imaging, BrestPort and BrestPort Community, Pennavel, France Énergies Marines, ETT, EKIUM, SeaSideTech SAS and Artelia.
They also had access to dedicated side-events organised by the industry’s prime contractors:
– At a breakfast organised by EDF Renouvelables, Brittany-based companies attending the international floating wind energy conference had the opportunity to hold privileged discussions with Benoîte Chenut, the new director in charge of AO6 and AO9 Bretagne Sud at EDF. These discussions are the precursor to potential positions in these projects.
– RTE offered its supply chain a workshop on its purchasing policy for its wind farm connection projects, where the use of local subcontractors is a priority. In particular, the RTE team explained the contours of the Pennavel connection, the future floating wind farm in Southern Brittany. Due for commissioning around 2030, this project will represent a major technological challenge for RTE, being the first floating wind farm to be connected on the European continent. This first experiment will pave the way for the connection of the AO9 extension. This operation will benefit local players. Most of the Tier 1 players have already been designated by RTE. They will have the opportunity to be put in touch with subcontractors at an inter-company meeting in 2026.
– A workshop was organized with the Pennavel team at the CCI Finistère, where the Bretagne Sud and Buchan (Scotland) projects were presented to the representatives of the Scottish and Breton companies present. This was an opportunity for the Breton representatives to discover Pennavel’s purchasing strategies and to forge partnerships with their Scottish counterparts.
Visits to emblematic MRE sites in Brest
After two intense days of discussions and speeches on the development and deployment of floating wind farms, industry professionals were finally able to discover some of the many infrastructures available to developers of technological solutions, thanks to 2 site visits organised by Bretagne Ocean Power:
– Presentation of the infrastructures of the Port of Brest and the 40-hectare ORE terminal by BrestPort, a facility dedicated to ORE to meet the needs of wind farm projects on the Atlantic-Channel coast (Bay of Saint-Brieuc, Yeu-Noirmoutier, Dieppe-Tréport) and ideally positioned at the heart of the Celtic Sea markets.
– Presentation of the Haizea Breizh assembly unit and its partner SPIE Industrie, which is currently equipping the masts for the Yeu-Noirmoutier wind farm.
– Discovery of the blocks of the future 5MW demonstrator developed by EOLINK, currently being assembled at the EMR terminal and due to be launched in 2027.
Delegates were also able to visit the testing and R&D facilities:
– The France Énergies Marines team in Plouzané was on hand to present some of the emblematic research projects currently being carried out by the institute, including predictions of swell behaviour and the monitoring of marine fauna around wind farms.
– Finally, Ifremer and its multi-disciplinary team opened the doors of the Plouzané test basin and the materials resistance laboratory for testing anchor cables. The Sainte-Anne-du-Portzic test site, where the Eolink and Dikwe prototypes were tested, was also presented.
And for the general public
Alongside FOWT, the Brittany Region and Brest Métropole organised a week of MRE awareness-raising events for the general public with the “La Mer, quelle énergie! The programme included events, conferences, exhibitions and site visits, all providing opportunities to explain, meet and discuss the opportunities offered by marine energies, particularly in terms of jobs and training!
FOWT 2026: save the date
At the close of this year’s event in Brittany, the organisers announced that the next edition of FOWT would be held in the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée region, from 24 to 26 March 2026. Save the date!
