Clemessy integrates electronics into Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm’s 80 turbines, for General Electric

France's first offshore wind farm, currently being built in Saint-Nazaire (44) is to be inaugurated in 2022 by EDF Renewables and Enbridge. The consortium has entrusted the construction of electricity generators for the 80 turbines to General Electric (GE Renewable Energy) who in turn have chosen Clemessy for assembly and power module testing.

The power modules (or e-stacks) will be installed in the lower part of the wind turbine masts. These 80 electronic blocks will ensure conversion of the electricity produced by the GE nacelles located at the top of the masts (and each containing a generator) in order to make it converge towards the wind farm's future offshore substation. This substation named S34 is to house two GE transformers and is currently under construction at Chantiers de l'Atlantique. The modules themselves will be built by Clemessy's Saint-Nazaire teams, transported by barge to a wharf located near the storage area, then integrated into a first 15 m-high (T1) drum. Once assembled, they will be transferred to the wind turbine storage site in Saint-Nazaire harbour.

It is worth remembering that the Eiffage Group is heavily involved in this project, from the cable landing on La Courance beach in Saint-Nazaire (entrusted to Eiffage Génie Civil via ETMF) to Prinquiau electrical delivery station (built by Eiffage Énergie Systèmes Transport & Distribution and Eiffage Construction) and including underground cable routing to the delivery station (28 km of works carried out for RTE). Our Eiffage Métal colleagues are also part of the project since they are in charge of building the turbines' monopile foundations. These will be situated one kilometre apart from each other, and implanted this year in an area located 12 to 20 km from the shore, off the coast of Le Croisic.

When the wind farm has been commissioned at the end of 2022, it will produce 480 MW of power per year, which is 20% of the Loire Atlantique department's electricity consumption.

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