Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has announced that it has selected Global Wind Service (GWS) as its partner for the pre-assembly scope for the 497 MW Fécamp offshore wind farm in France. The offshore wind farm, also known as Parc éolien en mer de Fécamp, will feature 71 Siemens Gamesa 7 MW wind turbines.
Global Wind Service will be responsible for pre-assembling the tower components and assembling the HSBM tool on the nacelles. GWS began mobilising in February and the first vessel load out is expected to take place in May.
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This is not the first time that Siemens Gamesa and GWS have worked together. The two companies previously teamed up on the Greater Changhua 1 & 2a wind farms for 111 wind turbines, and for all 89 units at the Windpark Fryslân project in the Netherlands.
Siemens Gamesa has already begun manufacturing blades and nacelles for the Fécamp project at its facility in Le Havre, with tower sections being produced in Spain. The towers, consisting of three sections, are assembled at the quay in Cherbourg before being loaded onto the installation vessel together with four nacelles and twelve blades for the installation of four complete wind turbines in one batch.
The gravity-based foundations and substation are in place at the project's construction site, located 13-24 kilometres off the coast of Fécamp. The inter-array cable installation is currently underway and will continue until the summer.
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The wind farm is expected to be operational by the end of this year, producing the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 770,000 people or 60% of the inhabitants of Seine-Maritime.
The Fécamp offshore wind farm is being jointly developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a joint venture between the French company EDF Renouvelables; EIH S.à.rl, owned by Enbridge Inc. and CPP Investments; and Skyborn Renewables (formerly wpd offshore). With this partnership, Siemens Gamesa and GWS are making significant strides in the global renewable energy market.
