Saint-Nazaire export cable installation kicks off

Prysmian has started installing the export cables which will connect the 480 MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm to the French grid.

The Italian cable manufacturer deployed its cable-laying vessel Cable Enterprise on the project.

The cable pull-in operations started off the Courance beach on Sunday, 9 August, Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE), the French transmission system operator, said.

Back in 2017, RTE selected Prysmian to develop and deliver submarine cable links to connect three offshore wind farms to the French grid, including the Saint-Nazaire wind farm off Loire-Atlantique.

Prysmian is in charge of the design, supply, installation, testing, and commissioning of two high-voltage export power cable links for each of the three offshore wind farms being developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a joint venture company owned by EDF Renewables and Canada’s Enbridge.

In total, Prysmian will install 33 kilometres of submarine cables and 27 kilometres of underground cables to connect the wind farm to the grid.

The Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, also known as Parc du Banc de Guérande, will comprise 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines manufactured in France and scheduled to be operational in the summer of 2022.

Prysmian will also deliver and install the wind farm’s inter-array cables in consortium with Louis Dreyfus TravOcean.