EDF has confirmed that the 450MW Courseulles-sur-Mer offshore wind project in France will not be commissioned until 2027, over two years behind schedule.
An EDF spokesperson told ReNews that operations at the farm, 10km off the Bessin coast, will begin gradually in the second half of 2027.
The site, which is also being developed by Skyborn Renewables, Enbridge and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, was initially scheduled to begin operating in 2024, before the date slipped to 2025.
It is understood that among the challenges the project has faced are the drilling operations being carried out by Italian group Saipem.
The work, which is understood to have begun last October, has gone slower than expected because of ‘fine-tuning’ needed on a new boring machine as well as bad weather.
Announcing the group’s full year results for 2024 earlier this year Saipem chief executive Alessandro Puliti said the company’s Saipem 7000 vessel had now drilled four sockets at the site off the coast of Normandy and had installed two of the 64 monopile foundations.
However, since then activity has been put on hold as the drilling machine was transferred from Jan De Nul’s Vole Au Vent jack up vessel to Fred Olsen’s Bold Tern.
EDF said the drilling campaign was set to restart next month.