DEME Offshore and Eiffage Métal have recently completed foundation installation at France’s first offshore wind farm, the Saint-Nazaire. The companies installed 80 foundations in total.
For the project, DEME and its partner Herrenknecht, a company specializing in tunnel boring machines, jointly designed a 350-tonne Offshore Foundation Drill (OFD) to perform the drilling work for the XL monopiles.
Apart from the OFG, the Saint-Nazaire foundation installation project saw the deployment of a wave protection system called MODIGA.
MODIGA encapsulates the drilling and installation operations, protecting them from the adverse Atlantic marine conditions, which in turn enhances operational working time.
The complete technological solution has been deployed from the offshore installation vessel Innovation.
Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore, says: “Deploying this world’s first equipment enabled us to complete the installation well ahead of schedule. Installation operations continued through the winter season, despite the combination of severe weather conditions and the harsh Atlantic ocean environment. At Saint-Nazaire, our teams and crew have not only gained substantial experience for the next offshore wind farm projects at the French coast, but also to successfully carry out installation works in similar challenging conditions across the globe.”
The Saint-Nazaire wind farm will have a total capacity of 480 MW or the equivalent of 20% of the French department Loire-Atlantique’s electricity needs. The wind farm is being developed by EDF Renouvelables, Enbridge, and CPP Investments.
The first wind turbine was installed at the St. Nazaire offshore wind farm in France in April. This also marked the installation of the country's first offshore wind turbine. Read More.