Offshore services provider Deme and its consortium partner Eiffage Métal have won an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract to install the foundations at the 480MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France.
Owned by EDF Renewables and Enbridge, the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm will be located between 12 and 20km off the coast of the Guerande peninsula in western France, where water depths could reach between 12 and 25m.
The scope of the contract for the Deme and Eiffage Métal consortium includes design, fabrication and installation of 80 steel foundations for the wind farm site. The total value of the contract is more than €500m (£453m).
DEME French Subsidiaries general manager Jan Vandenbroeck said: “We are honoured to be awarded the first major EPCI foundation contract in France and to contribute to the country’s ambitious energy transition targets.
“The contract highlights our technical expertise in providing innovative solutions for the offshore wind industry. The Saint-Nazaire project will deliver drilled monopiles, a new step forward in the offshore wind industry.”
Installation of the foundations will be completed in 2021
With design activities already being started, the production of the foundations is expected to begin by spring 2020. Installation of the foundations is expected to take place on the rocky seabed conditions in the spring of 2021 and could be completed in the summer of 2022.
When operational, the wind farm is expected to generate electricity to be supplied to 20% of the Loire-Atlantique department‘s power.
Eiffage Métal general manager Antoine Brésolin said: “Eiffage is very proud to contribute to the first offshore wind farm in France. Already involved on this market in North Europe, where Eiffage Métal, through its subsidiary Smulders, has gathered lots of references for offshore wind farms in Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom and the Netherlands, our Group will now develop its know-how in French waters.
“We look forward to working with EDF Renewables and Enbridge to complete this project safely and by integrating its environmental features.”
Powered by 80 of 6MW turbines, the wind farm is expected to generate nearly 200 jobs during the construction phase and when operational, it will generate about 100 jobs in the operations and maintenance phase.
