The first of 71 gravity-based foundations for the 500 MW Fécamp offshore wind farm has been placed on its transport barge at the Bougainville yard in the Grand Port Maritime of Le Havre, France , ahead of transport and installation at the project site off the coast of Normandy.
The consortium of Boskalis, Saipem, and Bouygues Construction is in charge of supplying and installing the foundations for the offshore wind farm located between 13 and 22 kilometres off the French coast.
The fabrication of the foundations started in December 2020, with the first units completed earlier this year.
Each foundation weighs 5,000 tonnes and measures 31 metres in diameter at its base, while the height of the gravity-based foundation depends on where the unit will be installed and ranges from 48 to 54 metres.
Water depths at the offshore installation site range from 25 to 30 metres.
Bouygues, the consortium leader, and Saipem, are responsible for the design, construction, and installation of the foundations.
The transport and installation of the foundations will be done using the heavy lift vessel Saipem 7000 .
Boskalis will carry out scour protection and ballasting of the foundations after installation.
The Fécamp offshore wind farm will feature 71 Siemens Gamesa SWT-7.0-154 wind turbines.
Siemens Gamesa chartered Acta Marine’s Acta Auriga walk-to-work service operations vessel (SOV) to support the commissioning activities on the French offshore wind farm.
A few days ago, the project’s developers, EDF Renouvelables, EIH Sarl, a subsidiary of Enbridge, and wpd, officially opened the wind farm’s operations and maintenance (O&M) base that will first serve the construction of the wind farm while, from 2023, the building will accommodate the operation and maintenance teams.
Once fully commissioned next year, the Fécamp offshore wind farm will produce the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 770,000 people, or 60 per cent of the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime.