Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
On 14 February 2025 the Préfet du Nord signed a prefectural decree (arrêté préfectoral) granting Éoliennes en Mer de Dunkerque (EMD) the Autorisation Environnementale Unique (single environmental authorisation, AEU / 'Permis Unique') for the construction and operation of the 600 MW Dunkerque offshore wind farm and its 46 fixed-bottom wind turbines (10-16 MW each, 250-300 m tip height) located ~10 km off the Dunkirk coast on a 50 km² zone. The decree, published on 17 February 2025, follows the April-June 2024 public inquiry and represents the project-side primary consent (a separate prefectural decree of 24 December 2024 authorises the RTE grid connection). The authorisation is exposed to a 4-month direct appeal window and, in practice, has been contested in part by Belgian stakeholders (City of De Panne and others) on cross-border environmental grounds. The decree is the principal regulatory milestone before EMD can move to financial close and construction (now expected in 2026, with commissioning targeted for 2028).