The construction and float-off of Ideol’s floating offshore wind foundation has been successfully completed

(WK-intern) – The construction of Ideol’s patented floating offshore wind sub-structure has been successfully completed by Bouygues TP and was floated-off in Saint-Nazaire’s Forme Joubert lock.

After several months of construction near the Forme Joubert lock, the floating foundation – which will equip France’s first offshore wind turbine – was disengaged from the floating barges on which it was built before being towed back to the quay where the installation and the pre-commissioning of the wind turbine will occur next month.

The towing to the SEM-REV test site off Le Croisic will occur later this autumn where the floating system will be connected to the grid and hooked-up to the mooring lines which were successfully pre-installed last month.

These site-specific construction and launching methods are one of several proposed by Ideol’s innovative technology as it has always been Ideol’s strategy to be fully flexible and adaptable to high local content possibilities and local site and/or infrastructure constraints.

The installation of both tower and wind turbine on the floating structure at quay side is one of the many benefits a few floating offshore wind technologies such as Ideol’s can offer. This eliminates very costly and often hazardous offshore operations.

Floatgen
The project began in 2013 bringing together seven partners each with a specific role to play:
Ideol: design of the entire floating system (foundation, mooring system and export cable) as well as the supply of the wind turbine; Centrale Nantes: ocean engineering expertise,access to its offshore test site and mooring lines supply; Bouygues Travaux Publics: floating foundation construction; the University of Stuttgart: participation in the study phase simulations, RSK GROUP: environmental impact analysis; ZABALA project management; and finally, FRAUNHOFER-IWES: comparative analysis of the different floating solutions. It is supported by the European Union as part of the FP7 programme, by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency as part of the national Investments for the future programme, and by the Pays de la Loire region. This project is a precursor to the installation in coming years of first pilot, then commercial, offshore.

Pressebild: The floating foundation at quay after the float-off ©Ideol/Bouygues Travaux Publics