Bretagne Nord Ouest (BNO) is a planned ~1.2 GW floating offshore wind project off the north coast of Finistère, France, identified by the 17 October 2024 ministerial decision following the national « la mer en débat » public debate (20 November 2023 – 26 April 2024) as one of the four priority of...
Bretagne Nord Ouest (Projet 4 of Groupe PPE3) was formally included in the French AO10 / Procédure de Mise en Concurrence n°1/2026 with the publication of the cahier des charges rectificatif vCRE on 21 April 2026 by DGEC. The merged 11-project procedure covers approximately 10 GW (5 GW fixed-bottom + 5 GW floating) across Normandie, Bretagne, Charente-Maritime, and Golfe du Lion. Capacity range for Projet 4 is 1,150–1,250 MW (floating) per §2.9.6 of the cahier. First lauréats are expected to be designated end-2026 / early-2027 with a target average attribution tariff below €100/MWh.
On 2 April 2026, the French government and the Brittany Region indicated that a specific study on the Bretagne Nord-Ouest area showed that coexistence with professional fishing and environmental constraints would be better served by a 1.2 GW floating wind park rather than the initially envisaged 2 GW, leading the state to adopt a 1.2 GW capacity objective and to define an AO10 Bretagne Nord-Ouest zone accordingly for the AO10 Manche Ouest – Bretagne Nord project.
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AO10 Western Channel North Brittany, AO10 North Atlantic-Western Channel, AO10 Northwest Brittany, AO10 Bretagne Nord-Ouest, AO10 Bretagne Nord Ouest floating, AO10 Manche Ouest Bretagne Nord éolien flottant, AO10 Manche Ouest – Bretagne Nord, AO10 Projet 4
On 2 April 2026, Ministers Maud Bregeon (Energy) and Roland Lescure (Economy) officially launched the combined AO9/AO10 offshore wind tender during a visit to Vendée, under the PPE3 renewable-energy programming. The combined procedure — the largest single offshore-wind procurement ever announced in France — covers approximately 10 GW (5 GW fixed-bottom + 5 GW floating) across seven coastal zones: Fécamp-Grand-Large, Bretagne-Nord-Ouest, Bretagne-Sud, Oléron, Narbonnaise Sud Hérault, Golfe du Lion Centre, and Golfe de Fos. For the Bretagne Nord-Ouest (BNO) lot the launch formally fixed the project at 1.2 GW floating (revised down from the 2 GW initially envisaged in the 17 October 2024 decision) on a 235 km² area off the north coast of Finistère, straddling the 12-nautical-mile territorial-waters limit — the capacity reduction was justified by coexistence requirements with professional fishing and other constraints. The tariff objective averages below €100/MWh across the lot; for the first time the cahier des charges incorporates resilience criteria drawn from the EU Net Zero Industry Act. Winner designation is targeted for end 2026 or early 2027. Cumulative economic benefits of the package are estimated at approximately €37 billion.
In 2025, a suite of technical baseline and metocean studies was completed for the Bretagne Nord Ouest (BNO) offshore wind study and consultation zone. The official eoliennesenmer.fr project page lists multiple 2025 reports, including a Météo-France study evaluating usual wind-related risks and an analysis of storms and extreme waves, providing detailed characterisation of the wind and wave climate over the area. Complementary 2025 syntheses by SHOM cover the initial state of tides (marée), currents, swell (houle), bathymetry, anthropogenic elements, hydrology, and sedimentology. Together these documents constitute a structured resource and environmental baseline assessment for the 350 km² BNO zone, supporting feasibility evaluation and future design work for the planned floating offshore wind project.
The French energy directorate DGEC opened a targeted public consultation on the AO10 offshore wind tender, covering project capacities, connection modalities, geography, calendar, diversification clauses and use of helistations, with submissions accepted until 4 April 2025. For the Bretagne Nord-Ouest zone, where an AO10 floating wind project of about 1.2–2 GW is planned, stakeholders were specifically invited to express their preferences based on the indicative area defined in the relevant interministerial decision.
On 10 January 2025, following the national public debate "La mer en débat", the French state confirmed its decision to plan the AO10 offshore wind tender, detailing that it would include a floating wind project of around 2 GW in Bretagne nord-ouest and targeting project awards in autumn 2026, which framed the development pathway for the AO10 Manche Ouest – Bretagne Nord zone.
On 18 October 2024, the French government published its national offshore wind deployment map and announced the forthcoming AO10 tender of 9.2 GW, including a floating offshore wind project of about 2 GW in Bretagne Nord-Ouest, thereby formally identifying the AO10 Manche Ouest – Bretagne Nord zone as a priority area for development.
A national public debate titled "La mer en débat" was held between November 2023 and April 2024 to gather public and stakeholder views on offshore wind siting across all French maritime façades, including the future AO10 Bretagne Nord Ouest floating wind zone. The consultation, which generated more than 20,000 written contributions, aimed to identify suitable offshore wind areas while balancing decarbonised power production with fishing, transport, landscape and biodiversity concerns, and its outcomes underpinned the government’s subsequent cartography of priority offshore wind zones.
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