Ailes Marines, the developer and future operator of the 496MW offshore wind farm project in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, France, has received the three administrative authorisations required to construct and operate the wind farm.
The company has now obtained the concession of utilisation of the maritime public domain; the Unique Authorisation for the installations Structures, Works and Activities (AU IOTA); and the work Project Authorisation (APO).
The authorisations were made by the Prefet of the Cotes-d’Armor on 18 April, after an examination phase launched over 18 months ago in October 2015.
This is the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in Brittany, and one of the first in France, to receive all of the authorisations.
Emmanuel Rollin, Ailes Marines Project Director, said: “We are delighted to receive the authorisations, which validates the work undertaken over the past five years by Ailes Marines and its contractors to deliver all of the necessary surveys. These efforts have been rewarded, and we are very proud of that. We warmly thank all the people who supported and who accompanied us in developing this project so far. This is an important day for the project, which leads us in to a new phase of development, and a step further towards the project being delivered.”
Ailes Marines and its stakeholders will now finalise the technical surveys and define the layout of the Operations and Maintenance base. The company will also prepare future environmental monitoring plans and continue with public consultations.
Ailes Marines is a simplified joint stock company (SAS), owned by Iberdola (70%) and Avel Vor (30%), which in turn is controlled by RES (75%) and by Caisses Des Depots (25%).
The EUR 2.5 billion Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm will comprise 62 Adwen 8MW wind turbines.
Ailes Marines has recently deployed two LiDARs at the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm site.
The construction is expected to start in 2018 and the wind farm is scheduled to be operational in 2020.