The consortium developing the 496MW French offshore wind project Îles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier have taken a final investment decision.
Ocean Winds, Sumitomo Corporation, Banque des Territoires and Vendée Energie, as shareholders of the development company Eoliennes en Mer des îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier (EMYN), will now progress the site to the construction phase.
The Yeu and Noirmoutier wind farm represents an investment of around €2.5bn and the signing of all the financing agreements took place on 5 April.
Îles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier is expected to be commissioned from 2025 and is located off the coast of Vendée.
The project involves the construction and installation of a wind farm located 11km off the island of Yeu and 16km off the island of Noirmoutier.
The first offshore operations will take place this summer before the effective start of the installation operations in 2024 and 2025.
From spring 2024, maritime work will begin by the installation of the monopile foundations, the electrical substation built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, and the laying of the first submarine cables by Louis-Dreyfus TravOcean.
The companies DEME and Jan de Nul will be responsible for the transport and installation of the foundations and wind turbines.
At the same time, RTE, which is responsible for the connection of the wind farm, will set up a double submarine connection to transfer the electricity generated at sea to the onshore grid.
The wind turbines, produced by Siemens Gamesa in its Le Havre facility, will be installed in 2025.
The site is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2025.
The project involves robust international public and private financing, led by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and a syndicate of 16 banks: six French banks, four Japanese banks, two British banks, two Spanish banks, one German bank and one Dutch bank.
The financing is provided through shareholders backed financing and non-recourse debt.
It was raised with the support of Société Générale, who acted as the financial advisor to the project.
“I am delighted to see the EMYN wind farm come to reality thanks to the support of all its partners and the team, whose great involvement I would like to thank,” said president of the Eoliennes en Mer des iles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier Paolo Cairo.
“A new page is being written with the start of the construction phase, a stage during which we will continue to enthusiastically mobilise our know-how and our experts in order to meet the challenges of this collective project.”