Construction of Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm electrical substation started

The first steel sheet of the electrical substation for the offshore wind farm of Saint-Nazaire (west of France) was cut today at Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire. Ordered in August 2019 by Parc du Banc de Guérande, held jointly by EDF Renouvelables and Enbridge Inc, the substation will leave the shipyard in the summer of 2021, to be connected  with the wind farm in 2022. The substation will collect and transform the electricity produced by wind turbines and transfer it to the shore network, while ensuring remote control of the wind farm.

The same consortium, led by Atlantique Offshore Energy (the business unit dedicated to Marine Energies from Chantiers de l’Atlantique) with its partners GE Renewable Energy’s Grid Solutions business and SDI (DEME Offshore) has been selected by Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises et Eoliennes Offshore du Calvados, held by EDF Renouvelables,  Enbridge Inc and wpd offshore, to design, manufacture and install the electrical substations for the Fécamp and Courseulles-sur-Mer wind farms (Normandie, France).

The delivery of the Fécamp and of Courseulles-sur-Mer substations, with a total capacity of around 500 MW each, should take place respectively at the end of 2022 and in 2023.

Over the period of execution of these three projects, more than 400 people (Chantiers de l’Atlantique and contractors) will be employed in the Saint-Nazaire area.

The selected consortium brings together the expertise of :

• Atlantique Offshore Energy, responsible for the topside and jacket-type foundation design, manufacturing and commissioning
• GE’s Grid Solutions, in charge of high voltage electrical equipment and protection control systems design, manufacturing and commissioning
• and SDI, in charge of the transport and installation of these structures, including the offshore pre-piling works.

Once in operation, the three substations will cover the equivalent of the domestic electricity consumption of nearly two million people in France  “This choice allows  to strengthen the French industrial sector of offshore wind power, which is facing a particularly competitive market dynamic,” said Frédéric Grizaud, Director of Atlantique Offshore Energy. “After our first successes in Europe, we are proud to consolidate our industrial know-how on these three projects. This strategy gives us the needed visibility to address in parallel other projects  being developed in France and worldwide“.