Iberdrola completes the first phase of construction of the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm

Iberdrola is progressing on schedule with the project to build the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in the waters of Brittany, France. The company has completed the first campaign of the works with the installation of 65% of the piles and 40% of the offshore wind platforms of the plant. These elements have been manufactured at Windar's facilities in Avilés and Navantia's in Fene, respectively.

In total, 124 piles have already been installed, which will allow the substation and 40 of the 62 wind turbines that the wind farm will have to be anchored to the seabed.  These cylindrical steel pieces, each 2.6 metres in diameter and weighing 150 tonnes, are between 18 and 47 metres long. On them are fitted, with millimetric precision, each of the three-legged platforms that will support the turbines.

During this first phase, which has just been completed, the installation of 24 of these platforms has also been completed (around 40% of the total planned). These triangular-based foundations are up to 75 metres high, 25 metres wide and weigh 1,150 tonnes. They are assembled in three stages. The first consists of lifting the structure from a transport barge and placing it on site with a crane. During the second stage, the three legs of the frame are inserted into the piles previously fixed to the seabed, ready for subsequent sealing of the lower parts of the legs.

Thanks to their lattice structure, the platforms have a very limited impact on the environment, facilitating the circulation of water masses and biodiversity, while promoting the artificial reef effect. 

During the month of January, the project will continue with the installation of the cabling between wind turbines, depending on weather conditions. In mid-January 2023, work is scheduled to begin on laying the interconnection cable for the wind farm. A total of 90 kilometres of 66 kV high-voltage alternating current interconnection cables will be commissioned. 

The drilling and pile installation work will be resumed in the first quarter, when the anchoring of the remaining 66 piles will be undertaken. Thus, in the second half of the year, the installation of the offshore wind platforms will resume and the assembly of the wind turbines will begin.

The contract for the construction of Saint-Brieuc - valued at 350 million euros - has been the largest order to date executed by the Navantia and Windar partnership in offshore wind energy.  This project has generated 1,250 direct jobs in Avilés and Fene. 

In addition, Navantia-Windar has opened a plant in Brest, France, where the 186 stabbings and intermediate platforms of the transition pieces and the lattice structure for 34 of the 62 structures of the wind farm have been manufactured, generating 250 jobs.

Thanks to the contracts awarded by Iberdrola, Navantia has become a global benchmark in the construction of offshore wind components and the leading supplier of this type of structure in France, with one of the greatest development potentials in this industry in Europe. 

In total, Iberdrola has already awarded Navantia-Windar contracts worth more than 1 billion euros, including the award to Windar of the transition parts for the Baltic Eagle offshore wind farms in Germany and Vineyard Wind 1 in the United States, as well as the orders already completed for Wikinger, in the Baltic Sea, and East Anglia One, in the United Kingdom.

This collaboration is an example of Iberdrola's commitment to generating alliances with suppliers as an opportunity to develop a value chain in the country and position Spanish industry as an international benchmark in green projects.

The Saint-Brieuc wind farm will be the Iberdrola Group's first large offshore wind farm in France, and the company's fourth of this technology in operation. With almost 500 MW of capacity, it will generate enough clean energy to meet the electricity consumption of 835,000 people, once it comes into operation in 2023.

Located some 16 kilometres from the coast, it will cover an area of 75 square kilometres. Its construction represents an overall investment of around 2,500 million euros. This new facility demonstrates Iberdrola's commitment to the French market, where the company plans to invest around 4,000 million euros by 2025, mainly in renewable projects. 

The plant will become the company's fourth offshore wind farm in operation, following West of Duddon Sands, located in the Irish Sea; Wikinger, in the Baltic Sea; and East Anglia ONE, one of the world's largest offshore wind developments, located in the southern North Sea.

Offshore wind is one of the keys to Iberdrola's growth. Just as the group pioneered onshore wind two decades ago, the company is leading the development of offshore wind.
 
Focused on countries with ambitious renewable targets, the company has a significant portfolio of projects in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and the Philippines, the United States and the United Kingdom.