Saint-Nazaire OWF Clears Court Hurdle, Finalising Supply Chain Contracts

On 25 October, French Council of State rejected the motion put in place by three organisations against the authorisation of construction of the 480MW Parc du Banc de Guérande wind project under the French Water Act.

The developers are now finalising the process of designating the suppliers of foundations, offshore substation and inter-array cables, and are also awaiting the decision on another appeal filed by the same organisations, which concerns the authorisation to operate the project.

The Council of State’s decision from 25 October comes after the organisations’ appeal was dismissed by the Nantes Administrative Court of Appeals in May 2017. The three environmental organisations (Aspen from the Pouliguen commune, GRSB from the La Baule commune and Prosimar from the Pornichet commune) contested the environmental permit granted to the 80-turbine Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, claiming that the environmental impact of the project was not properly assessed.

Now, Éolien Maritime France – a special purpose company co-owned by EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) and Canada’s Enbridge – is waiting for the project to untangle from the last hurdle that went to the Council of State’s desk after the Administrative Court of Appeal of Nantes in July 2017 rejected the organisations’ appeal regarding the authorisation to operate the project. The appeal court’s ruling followed the decision of the Administrative Court of Nantes, which also rejected the petition in September 2015.

“Now that the Water Act authorisation has been purged of any recourse, we look forward to the final court decision. This decision concerns the appeal against the license to operate. The appeal, filed in 2012, was rejected for the first time in September 2015 by the Administrative Court of Nantes, and this judgement was confirmed in July 2017 by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Nantes,” Éolien Maritime France stated.

The Saint-Nazaire project Parc du Banc de Guérande will be situated 12km offshore and will cover an area of 78 square kilometres. It will comprise 80 6MW Haliade 150 turbines built in the GE factory in Saint-Nazaire.

The wind farm is expected to be completed in 2021.

Offshore WIND Staff