The company's offshore jack-up installation vessel Vole au vent carried out the transport and installation of the GE Haliade 160-6MW turbines for the project
Jan De Nul used the Vole au vent vessel to execute the contract for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm. (Credit: Jan De Nul)
Jan De Nul said that it has completed the transportation and installation of 80 6MW wind turbine generators (WTG) at the 480MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France owned by EDF Renewables and a consortium of Enbridge and CPP Investments.
The company’s offshore jack-up installation vessel Vole au vent carried out both the transport and installation of the GE Haliade 160-6MW turbines for the project.
Jan De Nul won the contract for turbine transportation and installation services for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in September 2019.
According to Jan De Nul, the vessel loaded the turbines, four at a time, at the Forme Joubert lock in the Saint-Nazaire port. After this, the Vole au vent vessel moved the components nearly 12km offshore for assembling on top of the foundations on the Banc de Guérande seabed, in the northern Bay of Biscay.
The first of the turbines was loaded in the port on 1 April 2022.
Jan De Nul said that the majority of the turbines had to be set up on an uneven rocky seabed. Additional rock fragmenting operations were needed to prepare the seabed for jacking as the self-elevating vessel needed a stable seabed to safely jack on, added the company.
Jan De Nul Group project manager Pieter Vandezande said: “The Saint-Nazaire wind farm is a milestone project for Jan De Nul, as this is France’s first offshore wind farm.
“We are proud to support the country in its energy transition by making possible the delivery of the first electricity produced by the very first French offshore wind farm.
“The exceptional installation progress has been the result of an extensive engineering process, optimised vessel preparation and planning, and an excellent collaboration with Parc éolien en mer de Saint-Nazaire and the turbine supplier GE.”
The Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm is expected to help France reach its goal of 40% renewable energy by the end of this decade and carbon neutrality by 2050.
By the end of 2022, the offshore wind project will reach its total capacity, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the annual electricity consumption of the Loire-Atlantique region, said Jan De Nul.