In a Friday decision, the Energy Ministry announced that France would launch tenders for two fixed wind farms and three floating ones totaling 9.2 gigawatts.

The project will be constructed off the coasts of Fecamp in northwest France as well as Brittany, western Gascogne Gulf, and the southern Mediterranean Coast.

Energy Minister Olga Givernet informed reporters that the new installations were part of a national plan to reach 45 GW in 2050.

Givernet stated that "this is a message for the industrial value-chain, telling them it's no time to delocalise or to make layoff plans. We need to build wind turbines on this site and then install them."

In early 2013, the French newspaper Les Echos reported General Electric's intention to reduce by half the number of employees at its Saint-Nazaire wind turbine factory. The company was not immediately available for comment. Reporting by Tassilo H. Hummel, America Hernandez and David Evans; editing by Tomasz J. Janowski and David Evans

(source: Reuters)