DEME Offshore, member of DEME Group has reached its halfway mark installation milestone with the foundation installation of the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France. The milestone follows DEME’s delivery of the St Nazaire offshore substation in August.

Having started construction in spring 2021, 40 out of a total of 80 XL foundations are now installed. The deployment of DEME’s industry-first technology is setting a new industry standard for efficient offshore wind installation projects in challenging marine conditions and solid rock.

For the installation of the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, DEME Offshore for the first time is deploying its 350-tonne Offshore Foundation Drill (OFD) and tailor-made ‘MODIGA’, another DEME innovation and industry-first technology which allows encapsulating the drilling and installation operations and shields them from the adverse Atlantic marine conditions.

Whereas the OFD was developed with Herrenknecht, a global leader in tunnel boring machines, the design and development of the MODIGA happened together with TMS, a leading offshore equipment manufacturer.

The complete technological solution is being deployed from DEME Offshore’s installation vessel Innovation.

To remind, in early October, Jumbo-SAL-Alliance’s MV Svenja completed the last of its 20 journeys for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm project in France. The Saint-Nazaire scope included the transport of 80 monopiles and 80 transition pieces spread over a total of 20 trips.

The 480 MW Saint-Nazaire offshore wind project is being developed by EDF Renouvelables and EIH S.à r.l, an indirect subsidiary of Enbridge, and CPP Investments. Saint-Nazaire, scheduled to be operational in 2022, is the first commercial offshore wind farm installed in French waters, situated on the bench of Guérande, approximately 12 km from the coastline. The offshore wind farm will feature 80 Siemens 7 MW turbines, installed at depths between 12 and 25 metres.