Navantia has made the contract of 62 support structures for marine wind turbines –jackets– for the future Iberdrola wind farm in Saint Brieuc, in French Brittany, which will have an installed wind power capacity of about 500 MW.
It
is, therefore, not only one of the largest marine wind energy projects
under way, but also the first time that Iberdrola entrusts the
construction of all its elements to a single company – during the East
Anglia One wind farm, for example, the production of the supports and
the anchors was divided between Fene, Asturias, China and Saudi Arabia –
which will take place, predictably, at the Navantia facilities on the
Ferrol estuary.
The two companies that make up the Temporary Business Union (UTE) responsible for manufacturing are Navantia and Windar.
The
structures will be three-legged, identical to those used by Iberdrola
in the East Anglia One wind farm, for which Fene’s facilities
manufactured 42 units. Thus, if the wind energy project is completed and
the signing takes place shortly, it is estimated that construction will
begin between the last months of 2019 and the first of 2020.
The
structures will be built entirely in Spain. It is important to note
that, as in the case of the floating structures of the Kinkardine
Scottish wind farm, there is always the possibility that part of the
units are referred to the factories in the southern peninsula.
One of
the unknowns is who will be responsible for the manufacture of the
anchorages of the structures at the seabed and the electrical
substations of the wind farm. If we continue with the distribution of
tasks that Iberdrola carried out in its previous wind power projects, it
is most likely that the first ones will be built by Windar in Aviles,
Asturias, while in the case of the second one it will possibly go to the
facilities of Navantia in Puerto Real, in the Bay of Cádiz.
