The company has completed the installation of 65% of the piles and 40% of the offshore wind plataforms that will support the wind turbines.
Iberdrola is progressing according to plan on the construction project in French Brittany waters for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm. The company has completed the first campaign of the works with the installation of 65% of the piles and 40% of the offshore wind platforms of the plant. These elements have been manufactured at Windar’s facilities in Avilés and Navantia’s in Fene, respectively.
In total, 124 piles have already been installed, which will anchor the substation and 40 of the 62 wind turbines of the wind farm to the seabed. These cylindrical pieces of steel, 2.6 meters in diameter and weighing 150 tons each, have a length of between 18 and 47 meters. Each of the three-legged platforms that will support the turbines are fitted onto them with millimetric precision.
During this first phase, which has just been completed, the installation of 24 of these platforms has also been completed (about 40% of the total planned). These triangular-based foundations are up to 75 meters high, 25 meters wide and weigh 1,150 tons. They will be erected in three stages. The first consists of lifting the structure from a transport barge and placing it on site with a crane. During the second stage, the three legs of the frame are inserted into the piles previously fixed to the seabed, ready for subsequent sealing of the lower parts of the legs.
Thanks to their lattice structure, the platforms have a very limited impact on the environment, as they facilitate the circulation of water masses and biodiversity, while promoting the artificial reef effect.
During the month of January, the project will continue with the installation of cabling between wind turbines, depending on weather conditions. In mid-January 2023, work is scheduled to begin on laying the wind farm’s interconnection cable. A total of 90 kilometers of 66 kV high-voltage alternating current interconnection cables will be commissioned.
The drilling and pile installation work will be resumed in the first quarter, when the anchoring of the remaining 66 piles will be undertaken. Thus, in the second half of the year, the offshore wind platforms will be put back into place and the assembly of the wind turbines will begin.
Industry driving force
The contract for the construction of Saint-Brieuc – valued at 350 million euros – has been the largest order to date executed by the partnership of Navantia and Windar in offshore wind power. This project has generated 1,250 direct jobs in Avilés and Fene.
In addition, Navantia-Windar has opened a plant in Brest, France, where the 186 stabbings and intermediate platforms of the transition pieces have been manufactured, as well as the lattice structure for 34 of the 62 structures of the wind farm, generating 250 jobs.
Thanks to the contracts awarded by Iberdrola, Navantia has become a global benchmark in the construction of offshore wind power components and the leading supplier of this type of structures in France, with one of the greatest development potentials in this industry in Europe.
In total, Iberdrola has already awarded Navantia-Windar contracts worth more than 1 billion euros, including the award to Windar of the transition parts for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farms in Germany and Vineyard Wind 1 in the United States, as well as the orders already completed for Wikinger, in the Baltic Sea, and East Anglia One, in the United Kingdom.
This collaboration is an example of Iberdrola’s commitment to generate alliances with suppliers as an opportunity to develop a value chain in the country and position Spanish industry as an international benchmark in green projects.
Iberdrola group's fourth offshore wind farm
The Saint-Brieuc wind farm will be the Iberdrola group’s first large offshore wind farm in France, and the company’s fourth of this technology in operation. With almost 500 MW of capacity, it will generate enough clean energy to meet the electricity consumption of 835,000 people, once it comes into operation in 2023.
Located some 16 kilometers from the coast, it will cover an area of 75 square kilometers. Its construction represents an overall investment of close to 2,500 million euros. This new facility demonstrates Iberdrola’s commitment to the French market, where the company plans to invest some 4 billion euros by 2025, mainly in renewable projects.
The plant will become the company’s fourth offshore wind farm in operation, following West of Duddon Sands, located in the Irish Sea; Wikinger, in the Baltic Sea; and East Anglia ONE, one of the world’s largest offshore wind developments, located in the southern North Sea.
Offshore wind power is one of the keys to Iberdrola’s growth. Just as the group pioneered onshore wind power two decades ago, the company is leading the development of offshore wind.
Focused on countries with ambitious renewable targets, the company has a significant portfolio of projects in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and the Philippines, the United States and the United Kingdom.
