Sumitomo Corporation?Head Office?Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Masayuki Hyodo?together with Ocean Winds (Head Office: Spain, an offshore wind energy developer which is a JV between ENGIE (Head Office: France, a global energy and services group) and EDP Renewables (Head office: Spain, a global leader in the renewable energy sector), Caisse des Dépôts et des Consignations (Head office: France, a public financial institution of France), and Vendée Energie (Head office: France, a semi-public company for the production and distribution of renewable energy) have secured financing for the Eoliennes en Mer des Îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier Offshore Wind Farm Project (the “Project”) in France on April 5, 2023 and will start construction this month.
Sumitomo Corporation joined the Project in December 2018 and has been jointly developing the Project which is located approximately 12 km off the coast in the Bay of Biscay, France. After securing approximately EUR 2.2 billion in financing, the Project company will proceed with the construction of the wind farm aiming for completion by the second half of 2025. The total project cost is around EUR 2.5 billion and the project period is planned to be 25 years from the completion of construction. The production capacity of the Project will be approximately 500MW with electricity to be purchased by a utility in France under a long-term power purchase agreement to serve around 800,000 people with electricity each year.
The French Government has set a long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and plans to introduce 40 GW of offshore wind farms by the same year. In addition to this Project, Sumitomo, Ocean Winds and Caisse des Dépôts et des Consignations are also jointly developing the Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe et Le Tréport Offshore Wind Farm Project, which is scheduled to start construction around May 2023, located about 15 km off the coast in the English Channel. The total production capacity of the Project and the Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe et Le Tréport Offshore Wind Farm Project is expected to be approximately 1 GW (net power generation capacity of around 300 MW). Through these large-scale offshore wind projects, Sumitomo Corporation aspires to contribute to France’s energy transition. Sumitomo Corporation is aiming to further contribute to achieving the French renewable energy targets by participating in other offshore wind projects including floating offshore wind projects in France.
Sumitomo Corporation focuses on achieving carbon neutrality in 2050 and has set a medium-term target of increasing the supply of renewable energy from approximately 1.8 GW (as of March 2023) to more than 3 GW on a net ownership generation capacity basis by 2030. The company expects to further bolster this to 5 GW. In order to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society, Sumitomo Corporation will further endeavour to develop and deploy hydrogen and other carbon-free energies and promote renewable energy projects.
