* Sees diversification abroad in face of French standstill
* Says turbine prices down 25-30 percent from 2008 highs
* Sees GDF Suez increasing 57 percent stake via rights issues
(Adds details, background)
By Marie Maitre and Benjamin Mallet
PARIS, June 25 (Reuters) - France's Compagnie du Vent may look abroad to develop its wind power business as political barriers make projects difficult to push through in its domestic market, the head of the GDF Suez subsidiary said.
"Despite positive statements (on wind power) from the president (Nicolas Sarkozy) and members of Parliament... on the ground it doesn't work at all," said Chief Executive Jean-Michel Germa, who founded Compagnie du Vent in 1989, told Reuters at a small and mid-cap energy forum in Paris.
"The French wind power industry has been completely decimated by a de facto moratorium on the ground as local authorities deliver close to no building permits and lobbies are attacking these permits," he said, also citing a draft law that could classify wind parks as polluting equipment. said Germa who founded Compagnie du Vent in 1989.
He also said that the banks would not finance equipment with a building permit that could be annulled by a court.
"The situation is completely blocked and there is no recognition by the government of the importance of developing wind power," he said.
French utility GDF Suez owns 57 percent of Compagnie du Vent and Germa holds the rest. Compagnie du Vent, which competes with EDF Energies Nouvelles, operates 15 wind parks in France, representing a production of 175 megawatts (MW), and has built 60 MW for third parties in Morocco.
Compagnie du Vent, which is based in Montpellier, southern France, and had sales of 16.8 million euros ($23.64 million) in 2008, targets installed wind power capacity of 2,000 MW by 2015.
GLOBAL DIVERSIFICATION
Faced with a difficult situation that could compromise France's efforts to ensure that 20 percent of its power consumption comes from renewable energies by 2020, Germa said Compagnie du Vent could decide to stop investing in France.
"We either stand like soldiers on the navigation bridge looking at the ship sinking or... we redeploy in the rest of the world," Germa said. "What the French administration doesn't want for France, many other countries are eager to get it."
Germa declined to say which countries he was targeting, but he said the company was looking at "the whole world" and could rely on the international presence of GDF Suez for its development abroad.
"This diversification will be made organically," he said.
The cost of developing wind farms has decreased thanks to a fall in turbine prices, which Germa estimated are 25 percent to 30 percent cheaper than they were in 2008.
Germa also said that financing needs to develop Compagnie du Vent's wind power portfolio and reach its 2015 capacity target would lead to changes in the company's shareholding structure.
"If we build 2,000 MW, we roughly need 2 to 2.5 billion euros. And you know that about 15 to 20 percent of the financing of wind power projects is made on equity, meaning we need 400 million to 500 million euros in capital to build new projects," he said.
"What will likely happen is that the company's capital will be increased depending on funding needs and GDF Suez will follow it but not Germa," Germa said, saying rights issues will be made when needed but giving no details on a timing.