Bourbon to Install First French Floater

France-based offshore services provider Bourbon has won a contract to carry out the mooring installation of the first floating wind turbine in France, the 2MW Floatgen.

Floatgen is a joint venture project between Ideol, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN), RSK Group, Zabala, the University of Stuttgart, and Fraunhofer IWES.

The floater will consist of a Vestas V80 wind turbine mounted on a square ring-shaped floating foundation, known as the Damping Pool, developed and patented by Ideol and built by Bouygues Travaux Publics.

The floating turbine is currently under construction at the Port of Saint-Nazaire.

The mooring installation will take place during the summer of 2017 based on a method jointly established by Bourbon and Ideol’s engineering teams in collaboration with ECN.

The wind turbine will be installed at the SEM-REV site near Le Croisic, Brittany, by the end of the year.

Bourbon’s Subsea Services team will be responsible for the project management, mooring installation and engineering.

An Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessel and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) will be used for the pre-tensioning of the mooring system.

“This project demonstrates BOURBON teams’ commitment to offer integrated solutions in all offshore and subsea marine services areas and work towards the development of tomorrow’s energy resources. We are proud to be part of this project and to support the Centrale Nantes’ team at SEM-REV,” said Patrick Belenfant, Bourbon’s Senior VP Subsea Services.