The offshore consortium led by EDF Energies Nouvelles and comprising DONG Energy, Nass&Wind Offshore and wpd Offshore, with Alstom acting as its exclusive supplier, is participating in the offshore wind energy call for tenders launched by the French government in July 2011, by submitting a total of four projects for the Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Brieuc, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp sites. Implementation of these projects is based on what wpd describes as “a highly ambitious and unique industrial plan that will create around 7,500 jobs in total”. With the only wind turbine manufactured completely in France, Alstom's ground-breaking technology would help to create a sustainable industry that will ultimately generate exports of French technology.
This balanced industrial plan will deliver economic benefits for numerous ports on the French coast. Alstom, the exclusive supplier of the next-generation 6 MW turbines that will be used by the consortium, plans to set up four plants at two sites, namely Saint-Nazaire and Cherbourg, to manufacture all the turbine's key components, leading to the creation of around 5,000 sustainable equipment manufacturing jobs for qualified workers, including 1,000 direct jobs.
In parallel, the consortium plans to set up as many as eight units to build the foundations and assemble wind turbines at the Saint-Nazaire, Brest, Cherbourg and Le Havre port facilities, as well as four Operations & Maintenance centres in the local ports of La Turballe, Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Ouistreham and Fécamp. This industrial programme will also help to shape and develop the activities of a network of industrial operators and local subcontractors during construction and operation of the wind farms.
The four projects submitted by the consortium are based on wind and environmental studies conducted over a period of around four years, as well as in-depth geotechnical surveys carried out at each location to determine the characteristics of the sea bed. All this data is crucial for selecting the best technical solutions at each location and designing robust projects that are well-suited and realistic by the key project submission stage. Through its rigorous and forward-looking approach, the Consortium has gained a project development lead.
In addition, wpd says, the consultation the consortium launched some considerable time ago – with local stakeholders, fishermen, municipalities, elected officials, neighbours – has already enabled it to achieve "a broad consensus in favour of the projects at the four sites".
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