Brussels clears French €62.8 billion offshore wind farm aid scheme

The European Commission has cleared a French State aid scheme backing eleven offshore wind farms, with an overall budget of €62,791 million (62 791 000 000 EUR). The decision to raise no objections was adopted on 13 July 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 14 August 2026 under reference C/2026/4385.

The measure, registered under aid number SA.120604, is notified by France pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and carries EEA relevance. Its legal basis is the French Code de l’énergie, and support is granted in the form of direct grants with the objective of promoting renewable energy in the sector of electricity production from renewable sources.

The granting authority is the Ministère de l’économie, des finances et de la souveraineté industrielle et numérique through its Direction générale de l’énergie et du climat (DGEC), headquartered at Tour Séquoia, 1 place Carpeaux, 92055 La Défense CEDEX.

Eleven parks across four coastlines

The regime covers eleven offshore wind farms located along four French coastlines:

• Three off the coast of Normandy
• Two off the coast of Brittany
• One in the South Atlantic (Sud-Atlantique)
• Five in the Mediterranean

A scheme with a €62,791 million budget

The measure is classified as a scheme rather than individual project aid, with an overall budget of €62,791 million. The form of aid is a direct grant, and the notified objective is renewable energy, within the economic sector of electricity production from renewable sources.

According to the published notice, the decision is part of the cases where the Commission raises no objections to notified State aid. The authentic text of the decision, from which all confidential information has been removed, is available through the Commission’s competition cases portal.

Green light under EU State aid rules

The authorisation was issued under Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which govern compatibility of State aid with the internal market. The publication follows the Commission’s finding that no objections were warranted against the French support regime.

The notice appears in the C series of the Official Journal as an authorisation for State aid, confirming that the scheme can proceed without a formal in-depth investigation.

What it means

With a budget close to €62.8 billion, the green light removes legal uncertainty for one of the largest European offshore wind support programmes to date. For readers, the decision signals that large-scale public backing for renewable electricity generation can pass EU competition scrutiny, underpinning the energy transition and the development of the European wind industry.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C/2026/4385, 14 August 2026, notices (official reference: C/2026/4385).