The operations and maintenance (O&M) base for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm was inaugurated today (22 October) in La Turballe.
The facility, which has 1,250 square metres, including 751 square metres of warehouse, was designed to be functional, innovative, and to have a lower carbon footprint, according to EDR Renewables, which owns the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm together with Enbridge and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board through Eolien Maritime France (EMF).
The base consists of an O&M building and pontoons which will accommodate three crew transfer vessels (CTV).
To allow staff rotations between the base and the offshore wind farm, the three CTVs, currently being manufactured at the OCEA shipyard in Vendée for the operator LD Tide, will be moored at the future EMR quay on pontoons manufactured by the Nantes company ETPO.
Once the first wind turbines are installed in spring 2022, the O&M base will accommodate a team of around 100 people with various skills necessary to carry out multiple operations. This includes an operations manager and logistics manager, maintenance technician and logistics technician, bridge manager, quality inspector, other personnel in charge of operations as well as administrative functions.
Recruitment for certain roles has already started, with the overall recruitment campaign to end in 2022.
Construction works at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm site are well underway, with foundation installation currently taking place in the waters located between 12 and 20 kilometres off the coast of the Guérande peninsula.
Also known as Parc du Banc de Guérande, the 480 MW project will comprise 80 GE Haliade 6 MW turbines manufactured in France.
The offshore wind farm is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2022, when it will become France’s first commercial offshore wind farm.