BW Ideol, a leader in floating offshore wind and designer of the Damping Pool® concrete floating foundation, and NGE, France’s 4th largest construction group, announced the signing of an exclusive partnership agreement covering the Mediterranean floating wind market. As part of this agreement, the two groups will jointly hold equal shares in the Fos3F project, initiated by BW Ideol, which aims to develop a serial fabrication line for floating foundations in Fos-sur-Mer to support the deployment of floating wind in France.
The project is planned for the DEOS platform at the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille. BW Ideol and NGE will jointly continue development of this fabrication line, sized to produce approximately 30 floaters per year, equivalent to an annual capacity of around 500 MW. The two companies have jointly submitted a bid to the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille’s call for projects for the allocation of 30 hectares of land backed by 400 linear meters of usable quay in Fos-sur-Mer.
This new milestone follows last year’s securing of €126 million in public funding for Fos3F: a grant of up to €74 million under the European Union’s Innovation Fund, and a tax credit of up to €52 million under the green industry investment scheme (C3IV).
NGE brings to this partnership its recognised expertise in the design and delivery of complex infrastructure projects, particularly in civil engineering. BW Ideol’s expertise in floating wind, backed by the international experience of the BW Offshore group, combined with NGE’s know-how in major infrastructure projects, enables the two companies to offer a unique proposition for the Mediterranean market.
This partnership comes as the French government launches the AO10 tender, which brings cumulative floating wind development in France to more than 5 GW, including 3.7 GW on the Mediterranean coastline. It helps secure delivery on this ambition and the supply of more than 200 floating foundations between 2030 and 2037. It also underpins the creation of a new industrial sector in France, with more than 1,300 direct jobs anticipated in Fos-sur-Mer.
The partnership between NGE and BW Ideol — two companies strongly rooted in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, with BW Ideol based in La Ciotat since its founding in 2010 and NGE based in Saint-Étienne-du-Grès (Bouches-du-Rhône) — strengthens the local and regional anchoring of this fabrication line.
This partnership builds on the strategic agreement signed with the Holcim group in December 2025 for the supply of innovative materials, including low-carbon concrete.
Paul de la Guérivière, President of BW Ideol: “With NGE, we are taking a decisive step: the transition to industrial scale for French floating offshore wind. This partnership brings to life, in Fos-sur-Mer, the creation of a new industrial sector for the serial fabrication of floating foundations, at a time when the State is launching AO10, the largest tender ever undertaken for offshore wind. It is a sovereign response to the needs of the energy transition: foundations designed and manufactured in France, using locally sourced materials, with more than 1,300 direct jobs for the region.”
Bruno Parent, Deputy CEO of NGE: “The ecological transition cannot happen without a massive acceleration of investment in energy transition infrastructure. With BW Ideol, we are helping build an industrial floating wind sector in France capable of supporting national and European decarbonisation ambitions. NGE brings to this project its expertise in delivering complex infrastructure and large-scale industrial works, in the service of a more sustainable and more sovereign energy supply.”