The jacket foundation for the Saint-Nazaire offshore substation was installed off the coast of the Guérande peninsula in France over the weekend, DEME Group said.
The 48-metre jacket will be held in place by four foundation piles installed in April 2021 by DEME Offshore using an in-house designed subsea template and tailor-made drilling equipment.
The expertise gained in this project will be implemented for the installation of the pile foundations for the Fécamp and Courseulles offshore substations, DEME said.
A consortium of SDI/DEME Offshore, Atlantique Offshore Energy and GE Grid Solutions was awarded the EPCI contract for the Saint-Nazaire substation.
DEME Offshore chartered the heavy-lift construction vessel, Pioneering Spirit, for the transport and installation of the jacket and the topside.
The topside is expected to leave the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port and head to the installation site this week.
DEME’s jack-up vessel Innovation is also busy at the site with the installation of the XL wind turbine monopiles deploying the offshore foundation drill jointly developed with Herrenknecht AG.
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The 480 MW Saint-Nazaire wind farm is located between 12 and 20 kilometres off the coast of the Guérande peninsula and will comprise 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines scheduled for full commissioning in 2022.
The wind farm, also known as Parc du Banc de Guérande, is being developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a consortium of EDF Renouvelables, Enbridge, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.