Swiss-based marine construction specialist Allseas has confirmed a contract award from Belgium’s DEME to install the substation for the Yeu and Noirmoutier islands’ offshore wind farm development in France.
Earlier this year, DEME landed two contracts worth more than €300m ($327m) in total for the transport and installation of foundations and the offshore substation for the project being developed by Éoliennes en Mer des Îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier (EMYN), a consortium including Ocean Winds (an ENGIE and EDPR joint venture), Sumitomo Corporation, La Banque des Territoires and Vendée Energie.
DEME’s offshore arm will execute one part of the project utilising the 2015-built vessel Innovation, while Allseas’ heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit will be used to install the substation jacket and topside. The installation of the monopile foundations, substation jacket and topside is scheduled to start in the first half of 2024.
Both companies previously teamed up on the Saint-Nazaire installation job that Pioneering Spirit performed for DEME in the Bay of Biscay in August 2021. The Yeu and Noirmoutier islands’ wind farm, scheduled to become operational in 2025, will have a total capacity of 496 MW and produce enough energy to meet the annual electricity demands of 800,000 people.
