The first of 61 Siemens Gamesa turbines has been installed at the 488 MW Îles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier offshore wind farm site in France.
The first Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbine was installed by Jan De Nul’s jack-up vessel Vole au Vent at the site located 11.7 kilometres from the island of Yeu and 16.5 kilometres from the island of Noirmoutier.
The vessel has loaded and transported four nacelles, four towers, and a batch of twelve blades from the Nantes-Saint Nazaire Port to the offshore site.
The other 60 wind turbines, with blades and nacelles manufactured in Le Havre, are scheduled to be installed between May and September 2025.
“The installation of the first offshore turbine at Yeu-Noirmoutier marks an important milestone towards achieving the ambitious targets of offshore wind in France. Our Le Havre factory is central to achieving these targets and, once its expansion is completed, it will become an essential link in our European offshore wind production network,” Yara Chakhtoura , Managing Director for Siemens Energy and Siemens Gamesa France
The units are supported by monopiles supplied by China’s Dajin Heavy Industry. The transition pieces are being delivered by Eiffage under a contract signed with Éoliennes en Mer des Îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier (EMYN), a consortium of Ocean Winds, Sumitomo Corporation, Banque des Territoires, and Vendée Energie.
At the beginning of this year, the first eight turbine nacelles arrived in the port of Saint-Nazaire. The installation of the final inter-array cables is also underway at the site.
The offshore wind farm is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2025.
“We are proud to have successfully installed the first wind turbine on the EMYN project, a symbol of the excellent collaboration between all contractors and the EMYN project team. With this milestone, we have entered the final months of construction before commissioning at the end of the year,” said Frédéric Flaus , Project Director for EMYN.
Once operational, the project will generate 85 long-term direct jobs, with around 60 positions based on the island of Yeu for operations and maintenance activities.
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