The traditional bottle of champagne was broken on Thursday May 2 to baptize the future electrical substation of the Yeu-Noirmoutier island park, which will have a power of 496 MW. The contract was signed by Chantiers de l’Atlantique with Ocean Winds, the project leader, around two years ago and the first sheet metal was cut in December 2022. It therefore took less than 18 months for the construction sites to Nazairians are building the “N35” topside of the future Vendée field substation.
If this event was presented as a “departure ceremony”, the topside, loaded on the Greenbarge 3 barge, should not leave the Penhoët basin straight away. Its installation is only scheduled for the month of June in the park. The jack-up vessel Seajacks Scylla, mobilized by Deme, completed the installation of the four piles at the end of January in preparation for the installation of the jacket foundation, built by the Spanish shipyard Navantia Seanergies in Puerto Real (Cádiz), which will support the topside at sea. For the installation of these two elements of the substation, Deme contacted Allseas which will use its split-hull boat Pioneering Spirit. A giant 382 meters long, 123.75 meters wide, capable of lifting loads of 5000 tonnes. It was he who installed the Saint-Nazaire park substation.
The Pioneering Spirit, here in 2021 during the installation of the topside of the Saint-Nazaire park substation (right of the photo).
The topside, 39 meters long, 25.5 meters wide and 18 meters high, required 600,000 hours of work, mobilizing 450 people at peak activity and 200 French companies. It houses the electrical equipment that will raise the voltage from 66 kV to 225 kV for export to the continent, as well as the command and control systems for the wind turbines.
Furthermore, the heavy load transport vessel Black Marlin, from Boskalis, arrived on April 5 in La Rochelle, from China, with, on board, the first eleven monopiles of 700 tonnes each. These wind turbine foundations were built for the Yeu-Noirmoutier wind farm by the Dajin Heavy Industries factory in Penglai, Shandong province, China. Their installation should begin on May 10.
Work at sea will continue until the end of the year. From this fall, Louis Dreyfus Travocean will also intervene for a period of approximately 2 months for an initial campaign of laying inter-wind turbine cables.
The wind farm, supported by the EMYN consortium bringing together Ocean Winds (a joint venture between ENGIE and EDP Renovaveis), Sumitomo Corporation, Banque des Territoires and Vendée Energie, will be made up of 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD wind turbines with a unit power of 8 MW which will leave the Le Havre factory. It is the Belgian Jan de Nul, via its French subsidiary Sodraco International, which will install the wind turbines in 2025.
© An article by Gaël Cogné, from the editorial staff of Mer et Marine. Reproduction prohibited without consent of the author(s).
