Offshore installation vessel Aeolus is starting the installation of the first of 62 jacket foundations for the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm. The facility, wholly-owned by Iberdrola, is located 16,3 kilometers off the coast of Brittany and has a total capacity of 496 MW.
Van Oord is responsible for the transport and installation of 62 jacket foundations for the wind turbines (3 pin piles each) and the 4 foundation pin piles for the offshore substation. A total of 190 pin piles will be installed. Before the start of the operations in France, equipment was engineered, constructed, and extensively tested to ensure the perfect execution of the project.
Due to the geotechnical circumstances in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc, harsh weather conditions combined with extremely strong currents, heavy Atlantic swell, and very high waves, offshore operations are possible only between March and October. To ensure that the Aeolus can be safely jacked up above sea level, the lifting spuds were modified with a flex-pin construction. For the drilling operations, new hydraulic drills were engineered and built to handle all types of soil and rock conditions. A newly designed and created drilling template will function as a positioning and holding-tool to ensure the precise placement of the pin-piles.
