Press release
End of the first phase of work at sea on the Saint-Brieuc wind farm
Lézardrieux / Saint-Brieuc / Paris – November 1, 2021 –
Ailes Marines today announces the end of the first phase of construction work for the year 2021. The operations are completely completed, the AEOLUS ship is ready to leave the area. He is waiting for a favorable weather window for his return to floating, in order to reach his home port. Offshore construction work on the park will resume on March 1, 2022 at the latest.
End of the first phase of construction work for the year 2021
The first phase of work at sea for the year 2021 began on May 3 and ended on October 31. This schedule was announced to the local Nautical Commission last March and corresponds to a technical shutdown of nautical resources and tools.
Three positions drilled and equipped with piles
In consultation with the CDPMEM22 in the presence of State services, Ailes Marines agreed to concentrate the first phase of work in 2021 only on the northern zone of the park, in order to allow the continuation of fishing activities in the southern part. This northern area is characterized by the presence of extremely hard rocks such as sandstone. However, the tools have demonstrated their efficiency by their gradual increase in power, including on the hardest rocks.
To date, the AEOLUS vessel has carried out drilling on 5 wind turbine locations and on the location of the electrical substation. A total of 19 drillings were carried out by the ship, three-quarters of which were at the desired depth objective. The piles were installed in three positions, those of the SB30 and SB26 wind turbines and that of the electrical substation.
Pre-slicing operations completed since August
Five weeks ahead of the schedule announced by Ailes Marines , the pre-trenching operations for burying the cables and moving the rock blocks were completed in August 2021. The Aethra ship also carried out preparatory operations concerning the 2022 work sequence, also located in the northern part.
As a reminder and in order to allow fishing activities to continue when the park is in operation, Ailes Marines has set itself the objective of burying all of the inter-wind turbine cables (90 km of cables) in the park, despite the numerous technical constraints.
Additional turbidity and noise control measures
In consultation with the CDPMEM22 and to respond to their request, Ailes Marines carried out, during this first installation phase, reinforced turbidity and noise control measures. These measures are in addition to the forty environmental measures included in the prefectural authorizations for the project and carried out by Ailes Marines .
During the drilling of the anchor piles for the wind turbine foundations, Ailes Marines carried out real-time monitoring and monitoring of turbidity and noise. Noise measurements were carried out near the drilling point continuously by a RUBHY acoustic buoy equipped with hydrophones, developed by two Breton companies RTSYS (electronics) and GISMAN (mooring).
For the definition of the protocols and the scientific analysis of the data, Ailes Marines contracted, on the recommendations of the CDPMEM22, the Société d'Observation Multi-Modale de l'Environnement (SOMME), a specialized Breton design office (29). in the observation of marine ecosystems. Drilling noise is between 177 dB and 191 dB at the source. These emissions fall between 137 and 151 dB just 100 m from the drilling point. These sound levels correspond to common underwater noise conditions with no impact on marine animals. These noises are equivalent to an ambient noise level representative of an area frequented by several types of vessels (fishing vessels, tugboats).
Compensation measures for professional fishermen
During this first phase of work, Ailes Marines set up an online information space .
On this site, professional fishermen whose activity could be impacted during the park construction work phase (2021-2023) were able to reference themselves and thus benefit from precise information on the amount of compensation they received. could benefit.
All sea users as well as the general public can follow the progress of the work live on the website.
Resumption of construction work in March 2022
Offshore construction work will resume on March 1, 2022 at the latest. The resumption of work will be governed by a prefectural decree. In 2022, Ailes Marines will install the piles, cables, and install the jacket foundations and the electrical substation.
The construction work at sea will last until 2023. All industrial means will be implemented so that the wind farm is fully operational at the end of 2023.
About Ailes Marines
- 75 km2 of area
- 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD 8 MW wind turbines
- 496 MW of installed power
- 1,820 GWh/year of production, i.e. the annual electricity consumption of 835,000 inhabitants (heating included)
All Press releases
The Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm is once again accessible to maritime and fishing activities
The resumption of maritime and fishing activities in the Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm has been effective since July 1, 2024.