Ailes Marines, a fully-owned subsidiary of Spanish electric utility Iberdrola, has completed the installation of all the 62 turbines of the 496MW Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France.
The French offshore wind project, which is being built with an investment of €2.4bn, is located in the Saint-Brieuc Bay in the English Channel, 16.3km off the coast of Brittany.
Norwegian company Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s jack-up vessel Brave Tern installed the last of the Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD 8 MW wind turbines on 17 December 2023. The turbine installation work was launched in May this year.
The French offshore wind project, which covers a total area of 75km2, started its clean energy production in July 2023. The first electricity produced by the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm was fed into the country’s national electricity grid by its manager, Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE).
Commissioning of the Saint-Brieuc facility is being done in stages. The first tranche of 20% is already operational.
The second tranche of 50% is scheduled to be completed in early 2024 with a target to reach 100% during the first quarter of the same year.
Once fully commissioned, the French offshore wind farm will produce around 1,820GWh/year. It is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 835,000 inhabitants or 9% of the total electricity consumption of Brittany.
Iberdrola France offshore wind director Stéphane Riou said: “Iberdrola once again demonstrates its ability to carry out a large-scale project, here in Brittany, and at the same time confirms its status as a leader in offshore wind power.
“Saint-Brieuc is the first French offshore wind farm and the 4th in Europe developed and built by the group. Iberdrola is currently building the East Anglia 3 park in the United Kingdom with a capacity of 1.4GW and the Vineyard park in the United States with 800MW.”
