Chantiers de l’Atlantique to maintain substations it is building for three French OWFs

Atlantique Offshore Energy has signed long-term maintenance contracts for three offshore substations its parent company Chantiers de l’Atlantique is building for three offshore wind farms in France.

Chantiers de l’Atlantique reported on 27 July that its Marine Energy Business Unit, Atlantique Offshore Energy, had just signed a five-year preventive maintenance contract for the offshore substation being built for the Calvados offshore wind farm (also known as Courseulles-sur-Mer).

This contract is in addition to those previously signed for the offshore substations (OSS) of the Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) and Fécamp (Seine Maritime) wind farms, the company said.

“These long-term maintenance contracts (five years) are a first for Atlantique Offshore Energy, which will manage the entire service by relying on its own dedicated teams as well as on the expertise of its partners”, Chantiers de l’Atlantique stated in a press release.

The three substations are currently under construction, with Chantiers de l’Atlantique set to deliver the one for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm this year, while the Fécamp and Calvados offshore wind farms will take delivery of theirs in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The jacket foundation for the Saint-Nazaire OSS is scheduled to be installed next month, with the topside expected to follow soon after that.

The Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, also known as Parc du Banc de Guérande, will comprise 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines, for which the monopile foundations are currently being installed. The 480 MW project is scheduled to be operational in the summer of 2022 when it will become the first commercial-scale wind farm installed in French waters.

Offshore construction on the Fécamp project is scheduled to commence in 2022. The 500 MW offshore wind farm, which will consist of 71 wind turbines, is expected to be fully commissioned by the end of 2023.

The Calvados offshore wind farm, which officially entered construction in February this year, will comprise 64 turbines and is scheduled to be fully commissioned in 2024.