Equans has picked Miros’ dry-mounted Wavex virtual sensor to collect operation-critical wave and current data on the offshore substation for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, located around 16 kilometres off the coast of Brittany, France.
Wavex is designed for highly accurate wave and current measurements that can calculate and display directional wave and surface current data through robust and adaptive algorithms, contributing to increased vessel operability, improved safety, and cost savings, according to Miros.
The sea around the Saint-Brieuc is prone to intense winds and currents, said Miros, as well as some of the biggest tide variations in the world generating strong currents and challenging operating conditions.
As the Saint-Brieuc maintenance relies on using surface vessels, jack-up vessels, and ROVs/UAVs maneuvering close to the foundations and cables, the maintenance work could be limited by current speeds as low as 1 m/s. Since the site’s current speed exceeds 1 m/s daily, Iberdrola needs to manage the working time of the vessels concerning the specific operational characteristics of those vessels, said Miros.
“This is an ideal project where our dry-mounted, IoT-enabled Wavex sensor will deliver at its best and showcase what it is good for – accurate, reliable ocean monitoring, measuring local sea state conditions and making the data accessible in real-time to all stakeholders both onshore and offshore”, said Emilie Dorgeville , VP Business Development Renewables & Ports at Miros AS.
A few days ago, joint venture partners Smulders and Equans loaded the 3,400-tonne offshore substation topside onto a vessel at its yard in Hoboken, Belgium, while the 1,600-tonne jacket foundation was loaded onto a pontoon from the yard of Heerema Fabrication Group in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. Both parts will soon be transported to France.
The developer Ailes Marines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spanish Iberdrola, selected a joint venture between Engie Solutions (now Equans) and Iemants (a subsidiary of Smulders) to manufacture the offshore substation for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in September 2020.
The same year, Saipem was contracted to transport and install the electrical substation at the project site in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in the English Channel.
Once fully operational in 2023, the 496 MW offshore wind farm is expected to generate enough clean energy for 835,000 people.