- The first four foundations left the Navantia shipyard in Fene (A Coruña) on Wednesday towards their destination, off the coast of Brittany, France.
- The project is Navantia-Windar’s largest offshore wind farm contract to date and will create more than 1,200 jobs in Spain.
- The Saint-Brieuc wind farm, with almost 500 MW, will be Iberdrola’s first major offshore wind power site in France.
Iberdrola started on Wednesday the transfer of the first jackets for its offshore wind farm in Saint Brieuc, Brittany, France, from the Navantia Seanergies shipyard in Fene (A Coruña) where the Navantia-Windar consortium is building these structures to support the wind turbines.
These are the first four jackets of the total of 62 to be built at the wind farm, which will be the Iberdrola Group’s first major offshore wind energy site in France. The contract for the construction of the jackets was also the largest order to date for the Navantia and Windar partnership in offshore wind energy.
The foundations will be transported in a 122-metre-long barge of the company Van Oord. They are expected to arrive at their destination in the port of Brest in approximately three days, depending on weather conditions, during which time they will cover the more than 1,500 kilometres that separate the port of Ferrol from their location in the English Channel. The delivery of the first jackets demonstrates the successful completion of the contract signed two years ago, valued at 350 million euros. The order included the manufacture and assembly of the 62 structures at Navantia Windar’s facilities in Brest (France) and Fene and the piles that anchor the wind turbines to the seabed at Windar’s facilities in Avilés.
This contract has strengthened a relationship of more than eight years between Iberdrola and Navantia-Windar, which totals contracts worth more than 1,000 million euros, including the award to Windar of the transition pieces 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.
In addition, this collaboration has contributed to making Navantia Seanergies, the brand created by Navantia to boost its business in green energy, 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.
Economic driver of local business and employment
The project gives continuity to the employment of Navantia and Windar in their respective facilities, generating 1,250 jobs, both in Asturias and Galicia.
In addition, as a result of this contract, 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 jackets in the park have been manufactured, creating 250 jobs.
In France, the building of the park creates 1,500 jobs distributed among various companies in France (including 250 at the Navantia-Windar plant in Brest), which means the creation of at least 2,750 jobs between both countries.
The Saint-Brieuc foundations rest on three legs. Each of them is up to 75 metres high, 25 metres wide and weighs 1,150 tonnes. Iberdrola has for the first time used an innovative hydraulic device called pile grippers to fix these jackets, which provides additional fixation and stability during the installation phase, which is expected to begin in the coming months.
2.5 billion euros invested
The Saint-Brieuc wind farm will be the Iberdrola group’s first major offshore wind power site in France. 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 billion 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 power two decades ago, the company is leading the development of offshore wind power.
Iberdrola has a portfolio of projects in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Brazil, which could increase in the coming years thanks to the numerous auctions in which it is participating.
The Iberdrola group’s sustainable growth strategy based on promoting the electrification of the economy through investment in renewable energies, electricity grids and energy storage has enabled it to become a global energy leader and the leading company in its sector in Europe in terms of capitalisation, with a stock market value of around 70,000 million euros.
Navantia Seanergies is the division created by Navantia to contribute to the development of green energies, through the construction of elements for offshore wind farms and the development of hydrogen as an energy transport vector. Navantia Seanergies, which was born from the synergies with the other divisions of the public shipbuilding and high-tech systems integration company, is a provider of all types of foundation solutions for offshore wind farms and substations and represents a solid industrial ally, with proven experience, capacity for innovation, modern facilities and a consolidated value chain at the service of the energy transition.
Navantia has a solid track record in the offshore wind energy sector: since 2014 it has participated in a total of 11 projects worth almost 1 billion euros, has manufactured, in alliance with Windar Renovables, more than 100 jackets and was the first Spanish company to build a substation for an offshore wind farm. Navantia Seanergies is thus positioned to become a global benchmark supplier in a market that is set to grow by 13% by 2030.
Windar Renovables is a global leader in clean and sustainable energy through the manufacture of foundations and towers for the offshore wind industry, as well as towers for onshore wind farms. Led by its founding team, it has a network of manufacturing facilities strategically located to serve the world’s largest wind markets. It has production centres in Spain (Asturias, Galicia and Andalusia), India, Brazil and Mexico. The manufacturing capacity of all available solutions, the controlled quality of its products and innovation have earned it the trust of the main players in the renewables sector, which is reflected in a solid order book for the future. Windar Renovables’ business model is based on distinguishing itself through innovation and offering its customers comprehensive and tailor-made solutions, thanks to its capacity and flexibility, and always applying sustainability criteria.
