Navantia-Windar Sends Off Last Saint-Brieuc Jacket Foundations

September 19, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The Navantia-Windar consortium has loaded out and shipped the last three jacket foundations for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm from Navantia’s yard in Fene, Spain.

In April 2021, the assembly of the first jacket foundation was completed at the Navantia Seanergies shipyard in Fene.

Just over a year later, in June 2022, the first four units were shipped to the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France.

The 1,150-tonne jackets have been moved to their final destination in 16 shipments. The structures are 75 metres high and 25 metres wide.

All 62 foundations for the 496 MW project have been produced by the two Spanish companies in Fene, Spain, and Brest, France and Iberdrola says that the construction of the units has created more than 2,000 jobs.

“Today we celebrate that Navantia and Windar have responded with a very high level to the trust that Iberdrola placed in us, entrusting us with what at the time was our largest offshore wind contract,” said Javier Herrador, Navantia Seanergies Vice President.

The installation of the foundations at the project site, located some 16.3 kilometres from the Breton coast, started in July 2022.

The 2022 offshore construction campaigns were completed by the end of the year and the works resumed at the beginning of 2023.

Installation of the jacket foundations restarted at the end of June, with 51 jackets in place so far, as well as 35 of the project’s 62 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines, which are being installed by Fred. Olsen Windcarrier’s vessel Brave Tern, according to our previous news about the project.

Last month, Van Oord’s vessel Aeolus completed the installation of jacket foundation piles.

“We want to thank all the Navantia-Windar employees who have worked for Saint-Brieuc, for having successfully faced the technological challenge of building foundations of this caliber (by weight and dimensions), a challenge that has continued during the installation in really complicated metoceanic and soil conditions,” said Javier García Pérez, director of offshore wind for Europe at Iberdrola.

The project is being built by Iberdrola through its wholly-owned subsidiary Ailes Marines in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany.

The Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm, the first in France to feature jacket foundations, is expected to be fully operational this year.

In addition to this project, Navantia Seanergies and Windar Renovables have an order for 45 XXL monopiles contracted by Iberdrola for its 1.4 GW East Anglia 3 offshore wind farm in the UK.