The 2MW Floatgen floating wind turbine has started taking shape in the Port of Saint-Nazaire with over 50% of the construction works now completed, Ideol, the lead developer of the project, said.
The floater will consist of a Vestas V80 wind turbine mounted on a square ring-shaped floating foundation, known as the Damping Pool, developed and patented by Ideol and built by Bouygues Travaux Publics.
The turbine will be installed off the coast of Le Croisic, in Brittany, on the SEM-REV test site, and operated by Centrale Nantes engineering school.
The launching of the floater is scheduled for this summer, and the commissioning is expected by the end of 2017, according to Ideol.
The turbine will be installed for an initial period of two years and the electricity generated will be injected into the national power grid throughout the operational period.
The floating foundation is currently being constructed on a barge moored at Quai des Charbonniers.
Transport engineering company OCTRA is in charge of supplying the construction barges as well as associated equipment and staff for the first building phase of the Floatgen project. The company will also work on the full float-out of the 5,000-tonne caisson.
Le Béon Manufacturing is supplying the material needed for anchoring the Floatgen.
The project is a joint venture between Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Centrale Nantes engineering school, RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES.