Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has picked Global Wind Service (GWS) as a partner for the complete pre-assembly scope for the 497 MW Fécamp offshore wind farm in France.
The offshore wind farm, also known as Parc éolien en mer de Fécamp, will feature 71 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW wind turbines.
The Global Wind Service’s scope of work includes pre-assembly of the tower components as well as assembly of the HSBM tool on the nacelles. GWS started mobilising in February and the first vessel load out is expected to take place in May.
This is not the first time Siemens Gamesa is working closely with GWS. The two companies already teamed up on Greater Changhua 1 & 2a for 111 wind turbines and for all 89 units at the Windpark Fryslân project in the Netherlands.
When it comes to the Fécamp offshore wind farm, Siemens Gamesa started manufacturing blades and nacelles for the project in 2022 at its facility in Le Havre, with the tower sections being produced in Spain.
The towers, consisting of three sections, are assembled at the quay in Cherbourg before being loaded onto the installation vessel together with four nacelles and twelve blades for the installation of four complete wind turbines in one batch.
The gravity-based foundations and the substation are in place at the project’s construction site some 13-24 kilometres off the coast of Fécamp, while the inter-array cable installation is underway until the summer.
The wind farm is expected to be put into operation by the end of this year when it will produce the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 770,000 people or 60 per cent of the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime.
The project is being jointly developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a joint venture between the French company EDF Renouvelables; EIH S.à.rl, owned by Enbridge Inc. and CPP Investments; and Skyborn Renewables (formerly wpd offshore).