Blue Water Shipping Brest has assisted French company Sabella SAS with installing their D10 tidal turbine on the seabed off Ushant Island, which is located 30 kilometers off the western tip of Bretagne, France.
The installation of the tidal turbine took place during May and June and Blue Water Brest assisted Sabella on the full range of services. Initially, by acting as shipbrokers and fixing the cable installation together with Bourbon Subsea Services, which laid the cable from Ushant Island to the installation point at sea with their vessel “Argonaute”.
Next phase was installation of the turbine. This was done by Combi Lift and their vessel M/V “Palembang” with assistance from tug boats holding M/V “Palembang” in position. Blue Water had arranged the tug boats from Boluda France.
“The current at Ushant Island is torrential which makes the installing process extremely complex. It is only possible to work during the so-called neap tides – the time periods where the tide is not so strong – which only occurs few days every month. It was a very tight schedule requiring precise planning and we all worked under pressure,” said Mogens Nielsen, Director Blue Water France .
The turbine was built on the quayside in Brest where Blue Water was also involved in various logistics and stevedoring activities. The latter were handled by Blue Water’s partner ADS.
Image: BWS