The Saint Nazaire wind farm, off the coast of Guérande in France’s Loire-Atlantique region, is now in its final stages of development before coming on stream before the end of this year. This new facility will be capable to generate energy enough to supply 20% of the entire region, equivalent to approximately 400,000 homes.
The Saint Nazaire wind farm fact sheet
- The farm has an estimated lifespan of 25 years,
- The cost of the project is €2.2b.
- The windfarm consists of 80 locally manufactured GE Haliade 150-6MW wind turbines
- Saint Nazaire is a 480MW offshore wind farm
The government’s strategy is to increase the use of renewable energy in France to 32% by 2030. Located between 12 and 20km from the the Saint Nazaire wind farm, which has already created 100 jobs in the region out of the 1,000 expected once it is operational.
Also Read: Saint Brieuc Offshore Wind Farm Project Updates, France
As part of the wind turbine installation process, DEME Offshore decided to call on Sarens from the start of the assembly work in 2021 for the load-in, load-out, transport and storage of several monopiles and transition pieces on which the turbines are subsequently installed. The heaviest and longest pieces have an approximate weight of 980T and a length of 62m.
During the load-out works, vessels crane unloaded the items on temporary supports located close to the quay side, prior in the port area, before being taken by Sarens to the temporary storage. The transition pieces have been moved by the TP Handler 2.0, which is a further development of the 1st generation of TP Handlers. Seen all the maneuvers take place at ground level, Sarens is able to improve safety for the operators. This new handling technique using a TP Handler was tested in advance at the Sarens headquarters in Wolvertem (Belgium), prior to the transport of the device to the port of La Rochelle.
Part of the monopiles were also placed directly on SPMTs equipped with specific supports to guarantee the integrity of the foundations and the safety of the transport, while another part of the monopiles were stored in supports specifically created by Sarens until their transport to the wind farm.
Sarens owns extensive international experience in the assembly and maintenance of wind farms. It is participating in installations in France such as Fécamp, Provence Grand Large or more recently, in the lifting and transport work for the foundation bases of the new offshore wind farm in Saint Brieuc, off the Brittany coast, where it has been able to transport loads of more than 1,150 tons.
