The Yeu-Noirmoutier wind farm is being developed off the coast of Pays-de-la-Loire coast of France.

The 496MW-capacity project is owned by the Éoliennes en Mer des Iles d'Yeu et de Noirmoutier (EMYN).

EMYN is a joint venture (JV) owned by the Engie (47%), EDP Renewables (43%) and Caisse des Dépôts group (10%).

The €2bn wind farm is designed to be operational for 20 to 25 years. Commissioning of the project is expected to take place in 2025.

Project Gallery

Location details

The Yeu-Noirmoutier wind farm will be located offshore around 11.7km from Yeu island and 16.5km from Noirmoutier island.

Water depths in the region ranges from 19m to 36m.

Background

In June 2014, EMYN won the bid to develop the Yeu-Noirmoutier wind project.

In January 2017, France notified the European Commission of its intention to provide financial support to EMYN for the Yeu-Noirmoutier offshore wind farm project in the form of feed-in tariffs.

The European Commission approved financial support for the wind farm in July 2019.

France’s Vendee department in the Pays de la Loire region awarded authorisations including the concessions for the use of marine area, the environmental impact assessment, and plans for an operations & maintenance base for the 496MW project.

Project details

The Yeu-Noirmoutier offshore wind farm project will feature 62 8MW wind turbines across an area of about cover an area of 83km2.

The project will use monopile foundations to support the turbines.

It will also include 2,500Mt Electrical Offshore Substation Topsides that will collect and transform the electricity produced by the wind turbines and feed it into the French national grid.

The wind farm will be connected to the French mainland power grid via two submarine and land export power cable systems.

RTE, the French transmission system operator, will design, build, maintain and operate the two 225kV links.

The submarine link will include two 225kV high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) three-core extruded export submarine cables with single-wire armouring. The submarine cable will make landfall at a beach in La Barre-de-Monts.

Subsequently, land cables circuits will link the connection to the substation at Soullans.

Once operational, the Yeu-Noirmoutier offshore wind farm will produce an average of 1,900GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet annual electricity requirements of 90,000 people.

Contractors Involved

Siemens Gamesa was contracted to provide D8 offshore wind turbines for the project in September 2017.

The D8 8-MW turbine is based on the company’s offshore direct drive platform. The offshore Direct Drive wind turbine nacelles and patented IntegralBlades will be manufactured at Siemens Gamesa factory in Le Havre, France.

Sodraco International was contracted for installing wind turbines at the location.

In December 2022, Eiffage, through Eiffage Métal and its Belgian subsidiary Smulders, secured the contract to manufacture 62 transition pieces for the wind farm. Each of these pieces will measure 29.5m in height and 6m in diameter.

Sif offshore Foundations will produce the primary steel for the transition pieces for the Yeu-Noirmoutier project. The transition pieces will be delivered to Smulders in Belgium, for their final completion.

China-based Dajin was contracted to manufacture the lower part of the monopiles in their factory in Penglai, China. Netherlands-based construction company Boskalis was contracted for the transport of monopiles from China to the port of La Rochelle.

In October 2022, Atlantique Offshore Energy, Chantiers de l’Atlantique Business Unit was selected by EMYN for the design, manufacture and commissioning of the Offshore Substation Topsides required for Yeu-Noirmoutier Offshore Windfarm.

DEME has secured two transport and installation contracts worth more than €300m for the foundations and the offshore substation for the wind farm.

Ramboll was engaged to provide the first phase of Basic Design and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) for 62 jacket foundation structures, along with a package of adjacent services within geotechnics, low voltage design, corrosion protection and asset management.

In March 2020, Prysmian Group won a more than €150m contract for the development of two submarine and land export cable systems to connect Yeu-Noirmoutier to the French mainland power grid.

IMDC was contracted to perform the follow-up and interpretation of the offshore geotechnical campaign on the Yeu-Noirmoutier wind farm, while KCI was engaged to provide the structural knowledge to the engineering team for the offshore substations.