EFGL - Eoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion Fos-sur-Mer, France
The EFGL project is part of an eco-design initiative for offshore wind turbine floats, incorporating solutions that promote marine biodiversity. One of the WindFloat floats at the pilot farm was equipped with 32 Biohut® units, marking a world first. The project covered every stage, from design to installation in Fos-sur-Mer, through to deployment at sea.
The development of offshore wind farms in France and Europe is growing rapidly. Designed to generate renewable energy, these artificial structures at sea also represent a major opportunity to enhance marine biodiversity. Ecocean recognized this potential more than ten years ago and has been working ever since to optimize the ecological functionality of these infrastructure projects.
In this context, Ecocean proposed an innovative concept as part of the tender won by Ocean Winds in 2017 for the EFGL project. In 2025, the installation of Biohut® on offshore floating structures marks the culmination of eight years of close collaboration between EFGL / Ocean Winds and Ecocean, in synergy with the entire value chain, from the design of the floaters (Principle Power) to their construction (Eiffage Smulders).
« The EFGL pilot project represents a key milestone in the development of floating wind power in France and internationally. With the installation of these Biohuts, the pilot nature of our wind farm truly comes into its own. This new milestone also enables Ocean Winds—a pioneer in floating wind power with 10 years of experience inherited from our sponsors ENGIE and EDPR—to continue developing its technical and environmental expertise and, through this project, to help establish a French floating wind energy sector that respects marine ecosystems and plays a key role in achieving the government’s goal of 45 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.»
Thomas BordronResponsable Développement des projets EFGL ET EFLO, Ocean Winds.
The project in pictures
The installation of Biohut® on an EFGL float represents a groundbreaking approach in the floating wind sector: never before has a floating wind farm been designed from the outset to promote its ecological integration into the marine environment. This ambition has resulted in the eco-design of a float that incorporates habitats conducive to the development of biodiversity.
The solution developed by Ecocean has undergone extensive technical validation and has been seamlessly integrated into the project’s industrial requirements, from the float assembly phase at the Eiffage construction site in Fos-sur-Mer through to its transport and deployment at sea. This key milestone demonstrated the compatibility of Biohut® with the demands of floating offshore wind energy.
Future ecological monitoring will make it possible to analyze the biological communities associated with the equipped buoy and compare them to those of other buoys in the fleet. This effort to gather scientific knowledge will provide valuable insights for the development of future floating wind projects in the Mediterranean.
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Mars 2025 Installing Biohut® on the floats
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Mars 2025 Installing Biohut® on the floats
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Mars 2025 Installing Biohut® on the floats
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Septembre 2025 Dive to the submerged buoy
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Septembre 2025 Dive to the submerged buoy
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Septembre 2025 Dive to the submerged buoy
Project impacts
The EFGL project demonstrates that it is possible to incorporate biodiversity-friendly solutions into the design of floating wind turbine structures without compromising industrial requirements. The Biohut® were successfully integrated into the float after the mounting system was validated and its compatibility with the turbine’s anti-corrosion measures was confirmed.
All key phases—assembly at the Eiffage construction site in Fos-sur-Mer, transport to Port-la-Nouvelle, and deployment at the offshore site—proceeded without incident for the Biohut®, confirming the solution’s robustness under real-world conditions.
The ecological benefits of combining Biohut® units with floating structures have also been demonstrated as part of the ConnexStere project, providing a solid scientific foundation for the larger-scale deployment of these solutions.
32Biohut®
installed
15fish species
observed
Ocean Wind Beyond Energy - Sustainability at Sea
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