Iberdrola gets go–ahead for French windfarm

A CONSORTIUM including energy giant Iberdrola, owner of ScottishPower, has been awarded the rights to develop a 100-turbine windfarm covering 80 square kilometres off the coast of Brittany.

Spain’s Iberdrola, which is partnered by British renewable energy group Eole-RES, said yesterday that the award of the project by the French government was a vote of confidence in the consortium and will create 2,000 jobs.

The 500-megawatt project will be about 20 kilometres off the coast of Saint-Brieuc Bay.

Keith Anderson, chief executive of Iberdrola’s offshore arm, hailed the decision as “a milestone in creation of a permanent offshore industry for France”.