Offshore Wind Energy and Biodiversity: Can We Produce Energy Without Sacrificing Nature?

Like Atlantis, offshore wind turbines emerge from the waters, rising above the waves to capture winds that land cannot reach. Unlike the legendary city lost to oblivion, wind turbines embody a promise: that of a future where energy is clean and the energy and ecological transition moves forward in great strides.

But beneath the surface, what is really happening? Is the story told there one of a nature sacrificed, or one of a new possible balance between humanity and the living world? Let's break it down.

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Biodiversity and Climate: Two Crises, One Urgency

As the climate crisis intensifies, the devastating loss of biodiversity follows the same path. Often seen as two separate crises, they are in fact undeniably connected: a healthy climate cannot exist without the protection of our ecosystem.

COP16 Biodiversity in Colombia officially placed biodiversity preservation on an equal footing with the climate emergency. If we want to avoid a world stripped of diversity, it is vital to carry out an energy and ecological transition through the deployment of low-carbon energies to replace fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal.

What Is Offshore Wind Energy?

Key figures

• As of March 31, 2025, France's wind energy fleet reached a capacity of 24.9 GW, including 23.4 GW of onshore wind and 1.5 GW of offshore wind.
• France aims for 3.6 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030.
• In France, offshore wind represented nearly 4 TWh in 2024, while onshore wind produced nearly 42.9 TWh.

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Unlike an onshore wind turbine, a floating wind turbine is located at sea. Apart from its location, the principle is the same: harnessing the kinetic energy of the wind to convert it into electricity.

Offshore Wind Technologies

• Monopile foundation: Made up of a steel tube driven into the seabed, this technology accounts for the majority of wind turbines installed at sea in Europe.
• Jacket foundation: This metal foundation is recommended for depths of up to 50 metres.
• Gravity-based foundation: A large, heavy concrete base placed on the seabed, designed to remain in place even in extreme weather conditions.
• Semi-submersible: The wind turbine rests on large floats held in place by a standard gravity anchor, providing excellent structural stability.
• Barge support: Like the semi-submersible technology, the wind turbine is installed on a float. However, it is smaller in scale, which offers less stability.
• SPAR technology: The wind turbine is mounted on a single float in the form of a heavily ballasted vertical column.
• TLP (Tension Leg Platform) technology: Characterised by a taut anchoring system based on cables secured to the seabed, this structure allows the platform supporting the wind turbine to float with great stability.

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What Does Scientific Expertise Say About the Impact of Offshore Wind on Biodiversity?

Commissioned in 2023, Ifremer and the CNRS delivered their findings on the effects of offshore wind farms on marine biodiversity in early July 2026. This work analysed 10 types of pressures likely to affect marine environments across the various stages of a project, including barrier effects and collision risks for wildlife, chemical and noise emissions, and impacts on fishing activities.

While some of these effects are now well documented, others remain to be studied. The researchers who conducted the study painted a nuanced picture, balancing documented effects against persistent uncertainties. Here is what they found: 3 pressures (the obstacle effect on birds, the impact of noise on marine mammals during the construction phase, and the reef effect) showed proven effects, but these were local and variable depending on the context: species involved, technologies used, location, and phase of the wind farm's development. For the majority of other pressures, such as chemical emissions, artificial light, or electromagnetic fields, data remains insufficient. Without studies available on long-term effects (beyond 10 years) and at a large scale (currently, data is focused on the North Sea), scientists are unable to transpose findings to the French coastline. To mitigate potential effects, they nonetheless highlight promising levers such as bubble curtains during pile driving, the temporary shutdown of turbines during migration periods, and the burial of cables.

This expertise is above all an opportunity to frame future decisions, at a time when France aims to reach 45 GW of offshore wind by 2050. It calls for strengthening long-term and multi-site environmental monitoring, harmonising measurement protocols, and expanding research to biological groups that remain understudied. It also encourages industrial deployment in harmony with the challenges of preserving marine biodiversity, as a reminder that the energy and ecological transition can only be fully successful if sustainable infrastructure meets the demands of the living world as much as those of the climate.

If you need further information about a wind energy investment, we invite you to contact the Investor Relations team by booking an appointment online, by phone at 04 119 341 11, or by email at: [email protected].

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