On May 19, 2026, France’s Chantiers de l’Atlantique and partners launched the RHODE project to develop floating HVDC electrical connections for large-scale offshore wind farms.
The R&D programme will design floating converter platforms able to evacuate gigawatt-scale power from deep-water sites where fixed-bottom HVDC stations are not feasible. It complements the parallel push by State Grid of China toward plus/minus 800 kV / 8 GW VSC HVDC for renewables integration.
Why it matters for Green Renewable Energy: Floating HVDC is one of the binding constraints on commercializing deepwater floating wind beyond pilot scale in the North Sea, Mediterranean and U.S. Pacific.