Fallpipe vessel Rockpiper ©Boskalis
Today, a consortium of EDF Renewables, Enbridge and wpd announced the start of the activities for their Fécamp offshore wind project after having reached financial close over the weekend. Boskalis is one of the companies that will play a role in the construction of the 500 MW project, located between 13 and 22 km off the coast of northwest France. Project commissioning is planned for 2023.
The total project capital cost is estimated to be 2 billion Euro, of which the majority will be financed through non-recourse project level debt.
Wind turbines
The Fécamp project will comprise 71 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE). SGRE will provide its SWT-7.0-154 platform, each with a capacity of 7 MW, to be manufactured in its new wind turbine manufacturing plant to build in Le Havre, France. Assembly will take place in the port of Cherbourg. The contract with SGRE also includes a maintenance contract for 15 years.
Foundations
A consortium led by French Bouygues Construction, and also including Saipem and Dutch Boskalis has been awarded the contract for the foundations. It concerns 71 gravity-based foundations, each weighing up to 5,000 tonnes, to be built at the Bougainville yard in the Grand Port Maritime in Le Havre, starting this summer. These foundations will be installed at water depths ranging from 25 to 30 metres. Bouygyes and Saipem are responsible for the design, construction and installation of the foundations.
Boskalis is tasked with the design and preparation of the seabed rock foundation prior to GBS installation, and the scour protection and ballasting of the GBS’ after installation on the seabed.
The contract carries a total value of EUR 552 million and the contract value split being 40.5% (Bouygues Travaux Publics) 40.5% (Saipem) 19% (Boskalis).The works, which will start in the next few days, should be completed by the end of 2022.
Substation & grid connection
The contract for the offshore substation is awarded to Chantiers de l’Atlantique, plus GE Grid Solutions and SDI. French grid operator RTE is responsible for connecting the wind farm to the Normany electricity network. It will start with the onshore preparations in June.
Consortium
Fécamp is a project by the Éolien Maritime France SAS consortium. EDF Renewables holds a share of 35%, Enbridge Inc. also and wpd offshore 30%. The consortium secured a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contract in 2018. Maintenance will take place from the port of Fécamp.
