French Consortium Completes Offshore Substation Trifecta

A consortium of Atlantique Offshore Energy, GE Grid Solutions, and Société de Dragage International (SDI) has secured a contract to deliver electrical substations for the Fécamp and Courseulles-sur-Mer offshore wind farms in France.

Atlantique Offshore Energy
Atlantique Offshore Energy

The order was placed by Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises et Eoliennes Offshore du Calvados, a joint venture between EDF Renouvelables, Enbridge Inc, and wpd offshore.

The consortium has also cut the first steel for the electrical substation for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm at Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire.

The Saint-Nazaire substation was ordered in August 2019 by Parc du Banc de Guérande, a joint venture of EDF Renouvelables and Enbridge Inc.

The substation is scheduled to leave the shipyard in the summer of 2021, and to be connected to the wind farm in 2022.

The delivery of the Fécamp and of Courseulles-sur-Mer substations, with a total capacity of around 500MW each, should take place at the end of 2022 and in 2023, respectively, the consortium said.

“This choice allows to strengthen the French industrial sector of offshore wind power, which is facing a particularly competitive market dynamic,” said Frédéric Grizaud, Director of Atlantique Offshore Energy.

“After our first successes in Europe, we are proud to consolidate our industrial know-how on these three projects. This strategy gives us the needed visibility to address in parallel other projects being developed in France and worldwide.”

The 480MW Saint-Nazaire wind farm will comprise GE Haliade turbines, while the 450MW Courseulles-sur-Mer and the 500MW Fécamp will feature Siemens Gamesa turbines.