Spanish offshore wind developer Iberdrola said Friday it had installed the first wind turbine at the offshore farm in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, France.
The installation of the first of 62 wind turbines for the Saint-Brieuc wind farm was carried out on May 12 by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.
This operation was carried out from the jack-up vessel Brave Tern of the Norwegian company Fred Olsen windcarrier. The first wind turbine of the Saint-Brieuc wind farm was installed on position number SB44, located on the northern part of the site. This is also the first offshore wind turbine in the sea of Brittany.
Emmanuel Rollin, Managing Director of Iberdrola France said: "The successful installation of the first offshore wind turbine at the Saint-Brieuc wind farm represents a great milestone for Brittany and for the project. It means that we are entering the final stretch of the project, which will lead to the massive production of renewable and carbon-free energy for Bretons. After more than a decade of efforts and commitment from the Brittany region, local stakeholders and Iberdrola teams, this first wind turbine manufactured in Le Havre and equipped in Brest is also the culmination of a great industrial adventure, of which we can all be very proud."
The wind turbines of the Saint-Brieuc wind farm are being manufactured in France, on the industrial site of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, located on the port of Le Havre.
In the coming months, the offshore installation vessel Brave Tern will visit the port several times to pick up the wind turbine elements, and install them at the offshore location. The vessel will, each time, carry constituent elements of four wind turbines on board.
Iberdrola said that about 900 jobs have been mobilized for their fabrication and assembly in the port of Le Havre.
The towers of the 62 wind turbines were previously equipped by the company Haizea Wind on the Brest polder.
This new industrial activity continues to mobilize about forty on-site jobs for the mechanical and electrical assembly of all the internal elements, Iberdrola said.
At sea, the 90-meter-high tower of the wind turbine is first raised from the barge and then lowered by crane onto the transition piece of the jacket foundation, before being fixed.
In a second step, the nacelle is lifted and installed on the tower. Finally, the three blades are fixed to the rotor.
The structure installed at sea has 209 meters at the tip of the blade and the rotor is 167 meters in diameter. It is designed to best respond to the wind regime that characterizes the bay of Saint-Brieuc, Iberdrola said.
For the first wind turbine, these operations were successfully carried out by the Brave Tern, a vessel specializing in the installation of offshore wind turbines.
For each iteration from Le Havre to the site of the Saint-Brieuc wind farm, the Brave Tern embarks 4 towers, 4 nacelles and 12 blades.
The Baie de Saint-Brieuc offshore wind project covers an area of 75 km². It will feature area 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines of 8 MW unit capacity for a total of 496 MW of installed capacity.
Once fully operational, the wind farm will be capable of production of 1,820 GWh/year, amounting to the annual electricity consumption of 835,000 inhabitants (including heating).