Consortium of Boskalis, Bouygues, and Saipem selected for installation work at Fécamp offshore wind farm in Normandy

Royal Boskalis Westminster, in consortium with Bouygues Travaux Publics and Saipem, has been awarded the design work, construction, and installation scope for 71 concrete gravity-based structures (GBS) as foundation for the Fécamp offshore wind farm in Normandy, France.

The contract awarded by Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises (EOHF) carries a total value of €552 million (US$619.4 million).

The offshore wind farm will be located between 13 and 22 kilometres off the coast of Fécamp in Normandy. The 71 wind turbines will be connected to the gravity-based foundations installed on the seabed at depths between 25 and 30 metres.

Within the consortium, Bouygues, as the leader of the consortium, and Saipem are tasked with the design, construction, and installation on the seabed of the 71 gravity-based foundations with an individual weight of up to 5,000 tonnes necessary to provide the stability of the 7MW wind turbines. 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 structures after installation on the seabed.

The foundations will be constructed in the Bougainville maritime works yard in the Grand Port Maritime of Le Havre and will be transported by barge to the offshore wind farm site. The works, which will start before the end of June 2020, should be completed by the end of 2022.

The commissioning and operational start-up of the wind farm are both planned for 2023.

With a total power output of some 500 MW, the Fécamp offshore wind farm should produce the equivalent of the domestic electricity consumption of approximately 770,000 people, representing more than 60 per cent of the inhabitants of the Seine-Maritime department.