The RWE/Valorem consortium has been pre-qualified for the tender procedure for the Sud-Atlantique offshore wind project (AO7) off the Ile d'Oléron. The project involves an offshore wind farm with an installed capacity of around 1,000 megawatts (MW). It will be located around forty kilometres from the Ile d'Oléron, with commissioning scheduled for 2032-2033.
The project area covers a surface area of 180 km2 and has an average depth of around 60 m. This is the furthest offshore wind farm project from the French coast, with significant marine depths. The area selected is outside the Gironde Estuary and Pertuis Sea Marine Park, which is what RWE and Valorem recommended during the public debate. The call for tenders was launched in October 2022, and the winning bid is expected to be selected during 2024.