Ailes Marines has selected Atkins to provide the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) and Detailed Design of wind turbine jacket substructures for the 496MW St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm in Northern France.
Image: The St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm will be equipped with 62 SG 8.0-167 DD turbines from Siemens Gamesa. Photo: courtesy of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, S.A.
The St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm is being built in the English Channel off the coast of Brittany with an investment of €2.5bn by Ailes Marines, which is a consortium made up of Spanish energy company Iberdrola and French firms Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and Caisse des depots.
Under the contract, Atkins will be responsible for the design of 62 jackets for the 8MW turbines to be supplied by Siemens Gamesa. Atkins, which is a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is expected to use its vast geotechnical expertise to mitigate challenging ground conditions faced by the project.
Atkins offshore wind director Andy Thompson said: “This adds to our growing portfolio of offshore wind projects that provide clean energy and play a crucial part in Europe’s energy mix.
“It is important that as we work with an international supply chain, we advance the deployment of cost effective renewable energy technologies.”
The St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm, which is slated to enter into operations in 2023, will generate enough clean energy to meet the power consumption needs of 835,000 people.
Last year, Siemens Gamesa was given an order to provide 62 of its SG 8.0-167 DD 8MW offshore direct-drive turbines for the project. The 207m tall wind turbines of the St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm will be equipped with the ‘direct drive’ technology.
The blades of the SG 8.0-167 DD turbines, which will measure nearly 82m in length, are expected to provide a swept area that is 18% that is 18% larger than the previous model. They are also expected to help in delivering 20% more annual power production compared to their predecessor.
Upon its commissioning, the St Brieuc Offshore Windfarm will be the fourth offshore wind facility of Iberdrola after the 389MW West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea, the 350MW Wikinger offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea and 714MW East Anglia ONE in the southern North Sea.