France's sluggish offshore wind first wave gathers pace as Saint-Brieuc build starts

Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola will within weeks kick off construction at the 496MW Saint-Brieuc project off Brittany, as the long-delayed construction of a first wave of wind farms off France’s coasts finally gains pace.

The installation by Iberdrola unit Ailes Marine of three-legged jacket foundations will begin on 3 May, with construction of the wind farm spread over three years. The project will feature 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD machines.

Iberdrola this year has planned construction works from May to October in five zones located in the northern part of the wind project to avoid interfering with the scallop fishing season that finishes at the end of this month.

French fishermen last year still had protested against the start of construction this spring, dramatically warning they would "rather die" than allow it to go ahead.

Delayed first batch

As well as Saint-Brieuc, other projects from France’s first two offshore wind tenders in 2012 and 2014 are also finally nearing their construction phases.

First GE Haliade-150 6MW machines last year had rolled off the assembly line at the manufacturer’s factory in Brittany to be installed at EDF-Enbridge’s 480MW Saint-Nazaire project.

Installation at sea will begin in late April, EDF tweeted, while inter-turbine cables are also slated for installation this year. The wind farm is slated to start up next year.

Lengthy administrative and court hurdles, as well as protests from fishermen, delayed France’s first offshore wind projects by many years.