Jan De Nul has installed the first offshore turbine in French waters at the 480MW Saint-Nazaire wind farm.
The marine contractor’s offshore jack-up installation vessel Vole au vent has kicked off its mission to transport and install 80 units of 6MW turbine for the construction of the country’s first offshore project.
The Vole au vent arrived at Saint-Nazaire on 31 March after five weeks of maintenance and project preparations in the port of Ostend in Belgium.
It will be loaded with the 6MW wind turbines in sets of four and transport them 12km offshore, for installation on top of the Banc de Guérande seabed formation in the northern part of the Bay of Biscay.
A 1,500-tonne main crane of the vessel will mount the turbines on top of monopile foundations.
The installation of one unit takes approximately 24 hours, depending on the weather conditions, so each installation trip will take about 5 days, Jan De Nul said.
The final turbine is scheduled to be mounted in Autumn 2022, it added.
Jan De Nul Offshore Director Philippe Hutse said: “We are excited to contribute to the further development of renewable energy and offshore wind, in particular, in France.
“And we are especially proud to support the country in its energy transition by paving the way for the delivery of the first electricity produced by the very first French offshore wind farm.
“We are also looking forward to working again with Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind, and to confirm our skills and competencies by making the installation of the Offshore Wind Turbines in collaboration with GE a great success.”
The Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind Farm will produce 20% of the French Department Loire-Atlantique’s electricity consumption needs and will contribute to achieving the target of 40% renewable energy by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050 in France, Jan De Nul said.