Enerfip en Roue Libre Day 4 · Between land and sea

And there we are, halfway through our week! We can say that the hardest part is done. Today, we have an appointment with Eolmed in Port-La-Nouvelle to talk about offshore wind turbines!

participate in the fundraising

Day 4 · Discovering a pioneering project

Despite the long and trying day yesterday, nothing seems able to dampen the troops' morale! After a short night, all it took was a good breakfast to perk up the team, and off we went towards Port-La-Nouvelle in the Aude department. We were greeted there by Laurent, a renewable energy expert who is overseeing the Eolmed project.

Before hopping back on our bikes for around fifty kilometers, the Qair team invited us for lunch in the sun. Let's remember together the offshore wind turbine project, which has already been partially financed on Enerfip with two fundraising campaigns: a first carried out in 2018 for an amount of €400,000, and a second of €3 million, completed in 2022.

The Port-la-Nouvelle offshore wind turbines are the first offshore wind turbines on French territory to benefit from citizen financing. The whole team is therefore very proud of the success and enthusiasm generated by this innovative project!

We continue with a pleasant and peaceful journey, disrupted however by two punctures for Benoît and Guilhem. Fortunately, thanks to our partner Decathlon, we are equipped! One, then two repair shops later, we are back on our way to Gruissan to take some beautiful pictures by the beach.

Part of the team heads to the forest of our partner Faguo in Pignan, while the rest of the team heads to our accommodation for the evening. And here we are back in Hérault!

The offshore wind turbines of Port-la-Nouvelle

This pilot farm is a winner of the Future Investment Program (action "Demonstrators of the ecological and energy transition"), initiated by the state. Its goal is to validate the economic model for future commercial development and enable the growth of offshore wind power in Occitanie.

Laurent presents the future floating wind turbines in detail. They will aim to enhance a former area dedicated to hydrocarbons. Each wind turbine is 200 m high, of which 90 m will be submerged.

Each of the three floats will be stabilized by 6 cables, anchored at 3 different points on the platform and terminated by 2 anchors that will ensure the stability of the whole, planted in the sandy bottom.

To limit the risks to birds and marine wildlife, Eolmed is already carrying out numerous actions that will reduce or offset the impact of their project on biodiversity. Numerous cameras installed on site will monitor birds and fish. This will make it possible to improve procedures and limit externalities.

Laurent also tells us that a port extension has been specially designed for future hydrogen, photovoltaic, and wind power projects.

Eolmed's offshore project, financed by Enerfip! The farm consists of three wind turbines and is located 18 km off the coast of Port-la-Nouvelle. Each wind turbine will have a unit power of 10 MW, meaning they will produce approximately the equivalent of 53% of Narbonne's electricity consumption in green electricity. A significant proportion of households will therefore benefit from the production emitted by the park, which will help preserve the environment by avoiding the release into the atmosphere of more than 103,530 tonnes of CO2 each year. Qair and its regional partners, both public and private, have the ambition to develop offshore wind power. They will enable the region to act for the energy transition. It is with this objective in mind that they wanted to offer citizens the opportunity to contribute to the financing of their floating wind farm. Thus, more than 1,000 people were able to participate in the development of this project and contribute a total of €3.4 million to our platform. A pioneer in the field of renewable energies in the maritime environment, Qair embodies the French dynamic of developing energies exploiting the renewable resources of our coastlines. An innovative player in both the technical aspects of these projects and in its approach to consultation, Qair aims to become, with Eolmed, a regional and national benchmark in offshore wind power. Eolmed is the project company created to carry out the project of the same name, and the structure that carries out the bond loan on Enerfip with the citizens of the Occitanie Region. It is therefore the one that will ensure the interest payments. Thank you La Fabrique! To motivate us to make this whole journey today, we needed a good snack. And it was Benoit who brought the delicious homemade cookies. Thank you La Fabrique for this little surprise full of sweetness! (We would have liked to post a photo, but we ate them very quickly. So you will have no choice but to call La Fabrique for a chance to taste them).FOR more information