en.Wedoany.com Reported - July 15, 2026, Principle Power has been awarded an operations and maintenance support contract for the 30 MW Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating wind project in the French Mediterranean. The project is operated by Ocean Winds (OW) in partnership with la Banque des Territoires.
The agreement covers three WindFloat® foundations, each equipped with a Vestas V164-10 MW wind turbine, the largest single-unit capacity currently operating on floating foundations. Comprehensive O&M services include inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR), remote monitoring, data analysis, and engineering support provided to the project owner. Principle Power will leverage its newly developed Asset Hub application for real-time remote monitoring and automated analysis to assist customers in optimizing operational decisions.
Daily operations are conducted at the project's O&M base in Port-La Nouvelle, Occitanie, southern France. Ocean Winds has hired six local workers responsible for maintaining the platforms and auxiliary equipment such as mooring chains and collection cables, and collaborates with Vestas for turbine inspection and maintenance. Principle Power has expanded its local O&M team to support the project, with its French workforce accounting for nearly 30% of its global employees.
Jeremy de Barbarin, EFGL Project Manager at Ocean Winds, stated that the contract is a strategic asset for the project, consolidating the over 15-year partnership between Ocean Winds and Principle Power. The two parties have accumulated six years of operational experience on Ocean Winds' first floating wind farm, the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic project. Principle Power will apply its expertise in floating foundation technology to assist Ocean Winds in improving system availability, reliability, and efficiency. This O&M collaboration builds on the design, construction, and commissioning work already completed by Principle Power.
This contract represents the latest deployment of WindFloat® technology in France, aimed at driving the commercialization of floating wind power in international markets such as France, the UK, and South Korea. Principle Power has gained operational experience from three projects: the 2 MW WindFloat 1, the 25 MW WindFloat Atlantic, and the 50 MW Kincardine offshore wind farm. With the addition of the 30 MW EFGL project, the total installed capacity using WindFloat® foundations reaches 105 MW. These foundations have withstood waves up to 20 meters and winds of up to 214 km/h, delivering over 1 TWh of electricity to the grid.
Clara de Moura Santos, Vice President of Operations and Maintenance at Principle Power, noted that the contract reinforces the company's role as a provider of comprehensive O&M support and services. By collaborating with the customer, Vestas, and project partners, operational experience is leveraged from the design phase to meet daily asset management needs and support long-term reliability. She stated that during the EFGL design phase, experience from existing WindFloat® projects informed numerical predictions, maintenance strategies, and operational approaches, and that operational experience from this project will guide the fourth-generation, fully industrialized WindFloat® technology.
