38 jacket foundations delivered at Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm
BigLift Shipping transported 38 jacket foundations from El Ferrol, Spain to the Bay of Saint Brieuc to Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus, for the Saint-Brieuc offshore windfarm, 16.3 kilometres off the coast of Brittany.
BigLift Baffin alongside offshore installation vessel Aeolus
For the large quantity of jackets and the need for exact placement, BigLift’s heavy transport vessel BigLift Baffin was the right vessel for the job. Equipped with a state-of-the-art dynamic positioning system and her 125*42 m flush deck, she ticked the required boxes. Between June and October, BigLift Baffin sailed out into the bay ten times carrying the jacket foundations on deck. The three-legged jackets were 70 metres high and weighed about 1100 mt. They were lifted on board and seafastened on to purpose-built quick-release systems to reduce handling to a minimum for the lifting operation in the field.
Out at sea, Van Oord’s Aeolus hooked on to the jackets to lift them off, while BigLift Baffin stayed in position using her DP2 system. The area near the Channel Islands is renowned for its large tidal range, which means that high current speeds must be counteracted by the DP system. Furthermore, due to the height of the jackets, on top of the high currents, the vessel experienced large windage. But despite the extremely challenging conditions, the DP system performed excellently. This project was an example of an extremely fast-track project with limited time for preparation. Even so, all was performed safely and in time and BigLift Shipping is happy and proud that both its MC-Class vessel BigLift Baffin and the organisation did prove to be ready for this new step. BigLift looks forward to being challenged even further in the future.
Saint-Brieuc wind farm
The Saint-Brieuc wind farm is being developed by Ailes Marines, a company wholly owned by the energy company Iberdrola, and is the first wind farm in France equipped with jacket foundations. It contains 62 wind turbines that will generate 496 megawatts clean energy for 835,000 people. More information on the wind farm can be found in Iberdrola's video below.