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France plans to hold a big auction for energy developers to build 10 offshore wind projects, and announce winners by late this year or early 2027, as part of its green push.

The auction for 5 gigawatts of turbines attached to the seabed and 5 gigawatts of floating ones is larger than usual. The request for proposals for projects located in seven areas in the English Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea will include requirements to use domestic and European manufacturing, as it seeks to reduce reliance on parts from China.

The tender comes at a tough time for the industry. It’s been hit by rising equipment and financing costs and construction challenges. Some firms have also grappled with U.S. project cancellations ordered by President Trump.

France aims to be carbon neutral by mid-century. Although the government is also supporting new nuclear projects, its plan to boost renewables has drawn harsh criticism from opposition parties such as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally ahead of next year’s presidential election, and the nation has scaled back plans to expand solar and onshore wind capacity.

The aucion will help “consolidate our industry for bottom-fixed wind, and to become the leader of the floating wind industry,” Maud Bregeon, minister delegate for energy affairs, said at a presentation in Paris on Thursday. A maximum of four out of nine strategic components of the turbines and up to 50% their permanent magnets can be supplied from China, she said, without elaborating.

Developers of the 10 new wind farms should on average receive a guaranteed power price of less than $115 per megawatt-hour, the government said in a statement. Authorities pledged to take into account last year’s failure of an auction for a project off Oleron Island, which will be up for grabs again in the coming tender.

The government also awarded a 1.5-gigawatt project to TotalEnergies last year after getting only two bids, as investors turned cautious in the face of rising costs that have forced some developers to book losses, and even abandon multibillion-dollar projects. The other bidder in that auction, state-owned nuclear giant Electricite de France, is facing construction delays on an offshore wind farm it’s building in the English Channel and has sought to renegotiate government support for another project off the Normandy coast.

France has almost 2 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in operation and 5.6 gigawatts in construction or development. It’s aiming for 15 gigawatts of turbines at sea in 2035, and 45 gigawatts in operation in 2050, which would supply about 20% of the country’s need.

The government has also confirmed that it will hold tenders for solar and onshore wind projects this year. It will also introduce requirements in tenders to force developers to reduce their reliance on China for some vital parts of solar panels.

De Beaupuy writes for Bloomberg.