The equivalent of the annual consumption of 700,000 people is provided by 80 yellow and white wind turbines installed about fifteen kilometers from the shore.
This is the first time in France that the energy of the wind off the coast, near Saint-Nazaire, has made it possible to produce electricity. The equivalent of the annual consumption of 700,000 people is provided by 80 yellow and white wind turbines installed about fifteen kilometers from the shore. “There are 12 cables that connect the wind turbines to each other in clusters of 6 or 7, which then arrive at the substation. There, the current is transformed to be able to be transported, sent towards the ground»explains the director of the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, Olivier de La Laurencie.
When sailing towards the park, the 12 clusters of wind turbines and the huge 75-meter-long blades stretch to the horizon, with the electrical substation in the center, which looks like a gigantic gray cube on stilts. This substation “is a large transformer that will transform the electricity that arrives at 33,000 volts, into 225,000 volts”continues Olivier de La Laurencie, indicating that the electricity is then “shipped to the national grid where it will be injected at this voltage”.
The wind turbines, which should produce the equivalent of 20% of the annual electricity consumption of the Loire-Atlantique department, are “Spaced 1,000 meters, in one direction or the other”, says Olivier de La Laurencie. No one is permanently stationed in this vast park which covers 78 km², but everything is monitored remotely from a maintenance base in the port of La Turballe.
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“The second offshore wind potential in Europe”
At the heart of this base, a maritime coordination room with multiple screens shows the position of ships moving at the foot of the wind turbines. “It’s a bit like the control tower of the site”, summarizes Fabrice Le Tual, operations and maintenance manager, adding that a hundred people will work on the maintenance of the park during the 25 years during which it will be operated. The fleet, operated by EDF, will be fully commissioned by the end of the year. It has a capacity of 480 megawatts (MW) and was inaugurated by Emmanuel Macron on September 22.
“In France, we are lucky to have the second offshore wind potential in Europe, after the United Kingdom”, rejoices Cédric Le Bousse, Director of Marine Renewable Energies France at EDF Renewables. After those of Saint-Nazaire, the wind turbines of the Fécamp offshore park will be installed “next summer” and those of the park of Courseulles-sur-Mer (Calvados) “from the year 2024”says Cédric Le Bousse.
The construction at sea of the Saint-Nazaire wind farm took place in 2021 and 2022, with first the installation of the foundations and electrical cables under water, then the wind turbines were transported on site, from spring 2022 until ‘at the installation of the last on September 5th.