The Diplomat
Iberdrola has successfully completed the offshore installation of the substation for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in Brittany, France, according to Europa Press, based on data provided by the company.
This infrastructure will be the energy centre of the facility which, once it comes into operation in 2023, will become Iberdrola’s first major site of this technology in France, the company’s fourth in the world, and the second in operation in France.
Weighing some 3,400 tonnes – heavier than 20 Boeing 747 aircraft – this substation will be responsible for collecting all the electricity produced by the plant’s 62 wind turbines, estimated at some 1,820 GWh/year. The production is enough to supply the needs of 835,000 homes, including heating, and avoid the emission of almost 200,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
To transfer the electricity generated to land, the company will install 90 kilometres of submarine cable, almost three times the length usually required for an onshore wind farm. All cables between wind turbines will be buried to ensure safe navigation and the maintenance of fishing activities within the wind farm.
This electrical distribution infrastructure has been manufactured in Belgium by a joint venture between Smulders (a subsidiary of Eiffage Metal) and Equans. The former has carried out the engineering and construction of both the foundations and the substation that houses the transformers and other electrical equipment – supplied by GE Renewable Energy Grid Solutions -, while the latter has carried out its assembly and will be responsible for its commissioning.
The structure supporting the substation consists of a 63-metre-high jacket foundation weighing 1,630 tonnes. The substation is 55 metres long, 31 metres wide and 23 metres high, with a total weight of approximately 3,400 tonnes.
Both elements arrived at the wind farm at the end of June from the Belgian shipyards of Equans, in Hoboken, and Heerema Fabrication Group, in Vlissingen, where the substation and the foundations have been manufactured, respectively.
According to the head of Iberdrola’s offshore business in France, Emmanuel Rollin, when this facility comes into operation, “the department of Côtes d’Armor, with the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm at the forefront, will be the leading contributor of renewable energy in Brittany, producing the equivalent of 9% of the region’s total electricity consumption”.
In addition to the installation of the substation, the construction of Saint-Brieuc also continues to progress with the installation of the offshore wind platforms (jackets) built by the Navantia-Windar consortium.
So far, four of the total of 62 jackets to be installed at the facility have been installed. These elements have been manufactured at the Navantia-Windar facilities in Brest and Fene, while the piles that anchor the wind turbines to the seabed have been built at Windar’s facilities in Avilés.
This project has generated 1,250 direct jobs in Avilés and Fene. In addition, as a result of this contract – valued at 350 million euros – Navantia-Windar has opened a plant in Brest, France, where the 186 stabbings and intermediate platforms of the transition pieces have been manufactured, as well as the lattice structure for 34 of the 62 structures of the wind farm, generating 250 jobs.
The construction of the Saint-Brieuc wind farm will generate more than 1,500 jobs in France, distributed among various companies in the country (including 250 at the Navantia-Windar Brest plant). In total, this means the creation of at least 2,750 jobs between the two countries.
The Saint-Brieuc platforms rest on three legs. Each is up to 75 metres high, 25 metres wide and weighs 1,150 tonnes. Iberdrola has used for the first time an innovative hydraulic device called pile grippers to fix these structures, which provides additional fixation and stability during the installation phase, which is expected to begin in the coming months.
Iberdrola has already awarded Navantia-Windar contracts worth more than 1 billion euros, including the award to Windar of the transition pieces for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in Germany and Vineyard Wind 1 in the United States, as well as the orders already completed for Wikinger in the Baltic Sea and East Anglia One in the United Kingdom.
In addition, this collaboration has contributed to making Navantia a global benchmark in the construction of offshore wind components and the leading supplier of this type of structure in France, with one of the greatest development potentials in this industry in Europe.
Located some 16 kilometres off the coast, the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm will cover an area of 75 square kilometres. Its construction represents an overall investment of nearly 2.5 billion euros.
This new facility demonstrates Iberdrola’s commitment to the French market, where the company plans to invest around 4 billion euros by 2025, mainly in renewable projects.
Offshore wind power is one of the keys to Iberdrola’s growth. Just as the group was a pioneer in its commitment to onshore wind power two decades ago, the company is leading the development of offshore wind power.
