SLPE to Design Foundations for Two French Offshore Substations

December 19, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

SLPE has been awarded a contract to develop detailed foundation designs for HVDC offshore substations for the Centre Manche 1 and 2 offshore wind projects in France. The contract represents SLPE’s largest offshore substation project to date, the company said on 19 December.

The UK-based engineering company will perform the design work for the French transmission system operator (TSO) Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) on behalf of Chantiers de l’Atlantique, which awarded Smulders the contract for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the two offshore substation jacket foundations.

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Through its part of the work, SLPE, a subsidiary of Smulders, will carry out the structural and geotechnical detailed design work with the comprehensive design phase to span the next 2.5 years.

“This project not only represents our largest renewable substation undertaking, but also signifies our entry into the HVDC market. Our team can’t wait to get going on this work and we’re eager to bring our expertise and innovation to help scale up the production of offshore renewable energy”, said Luke Jacques, Associate Director of SLPE.

With each substation having a capacity of 1.25 GW, each jacket structure is projected to weigh approximately 7,000 tonnes.

Smulders, in collaboration with Eiffage Métal, will start building the jacket foundations in 2026, with the installation at the Centre Manche 1 and Centre Manche 2 project sites planned to take place in 2029 and 2030, respectively.

The Centre Manche 1 (A04) offshore wind farm will be built by Eoliennes en Mer Manche Normandie, a special purpose company of EDF Renouvelables and Canada’s Maple Power.

The developer of the 1.5 GW Centre Manche 2 wind project will be selected in 2025 through the French AO8 tender.