France-based offshore services provider Bourbon has completed the installation of the mooring system for the Floatgen wind turbine – first of its kind in France – at the SEM-REV site off Brittany. The turbine will be installed by the end of the year.
The mooring system, using synthetic mooring lines, was designed and developed by Ideol, with Bourbon responsible for the overall management of the project’s implementation. The company performed the engineering, operations preparation and the execution of the mooring system installation.
Significant resources, including an Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel with a WROV, were required for the installation conditioned by high tensions, Bourbon stated.
“ One of the FLOATGEN project challenges was to install an innovative mooring system that needs to meet the production conditions criteria of the floating wind turbine. This demonstrates the value of an experimental site to test innovative technological developments, their implementation and project management when in production. Competent and dedicated teams from BOURBON, Ideol and Centrale Nantes have highly contributed to the success of the operation ”, said Christian Berhault , Head of SEM-REV at Centrale Nantes.
The floating turbine, currently under construction at the Port of Saint-Nazaire, 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.
Floatgen is a joint venture project between Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN), RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES.