Float gen is the first offshore wind turbine installed off the French coast! Objective: to demonstrate the technical feasibility and economic viability of floating offshore wind in deep waters.
First offshore wind turbine in FranceToday, FLOATGEN is the first offshore wind turbine, fixed and floating combined, to have been installed in France . The project led by Ideol, Centrale Nantes and Bouygues Travaux Publics and named FLOATGEN, the name given to a 2MW floating wind turbine.
Construction work on the floating foundation took place between 2016 and 2017 in Saint Nazaire. It was inaugurated on October 13, 2017 and towed to the Centrale Nantes offshore test site, SEM-REV in April 2018 to carry out all the tests in real conditions.
Innovation at all levelsWhether it is the very concept of a floating foundation in the shape of a square ring, the offshore test site, the type of concrete used for construction or the material that will equip the anchor lines, innovation is at the heart of this project.
The Centrale Nantes SEM-REV offshore testing platform on which the wind turbine is installed is an international research tool that enables the development, in real conditions and on a 1:1 scale, of pilots or prototypes for recovering energy at sea (wind, waves). Researchers and industrialists thus have the means necessary for testing prototypes before their industrial exploitation.
Installation at the test site
Three ocean-going tugs were deployed during this delicate operation. They left late Sunday afternoon, April 29, 2018, and took about a day to transport the wind turbine to its SEM-REV test site. An additional three to four days were required for the mooring operations and connection to the export cable linking the wind turbine to the onshore electricity grid.
Floatgen will be tested in real operating conditions initially for a period of 2 years, extended until 2027. During its test phase, the electricity produced by the wind turbine is injected into the French electricity grid and Floatgen supplies electricity to the equivalent of a town like Le Croisic.
Connection to the electrical network
The connection of the electrical export cable and a final series of tests carried out allowed the Floatgen wind turbine to definitively enter production on Tuesday, September 18, 2018.
For Centrale Nantes, this is the first production tool and the first injection of electricity into its export cable on its test site dedicated to marine renewable energies SEM-REV (3rd installation after the tests on acoustic sensors and cable ballasts).
SEM-REV, connected to the national electricity grid, allows the wind turbine to supply electricity to the equivalent of 5,000 inhabitants, the size of the town of Le Croisic and its surroundings.
Floatgen reaches 6 GWh of electricity production in 2019
Following very encouraging initial results published in July 2019, the 2 MW Floatgen floating wind turbine exceeded expectations in terms of production and availability in the second half of 2019. This figure was achieved thanks to a temporal availability of over 94.6% and an above-average load factor in the second half of the year.
During the same period, the turbine faced maximum wave heights of 12.5 meters (= significant waves of 6.5 meters), confirming the excellent performance and seakeeping of the Damping Pool ® design, as well as the accuracy of the integrated simulations of the floating wind turbine developed by Ideol's in-house experts.
A project rooted in the Loire region
70 direct jobs mobilized at the peak in Saint-Nazaire for the construction of the floating foundation: the concrete used by the Ideol foundation allows construction as close as possible to the installation sites. The construction techniques developed and implemented by Bouygues Travaux Publics make it possible to integrate into the local economic landscape and easily adapt to the constraints of the host ports.
LeBéon Manufacturing leads the consortium for the supply of nylon anchor lines. A significant portion of the forged parts was therefore manufactured at the Plouay plant (Morbihan). FLOATGEN's partners have chosen to entrust most of the orders for components or logistics activities to suppliers located in the Saint-Nazaire area, an orientation that has even been applied to all purchases related to the project, whether it be communication or insurance.
FLOATGEN, starting point for a serial deployment
The FLOATGEN project, the first offshore wind turbine in France and the first demonstrator of the Ideol floating foundation technology, is already providing and will continue to provide unique feedback to the consortium partners, particularly in terms of construction, installation and operation methods for the floating system, and will serve as a commercial showcase for export. On July 13, the French government selected a consortium led by Quadran and combining the Ideol floating foundation solution and the expertise of Bouygues Travaux Publics, for the construction of a first wind farm in the Mediterranean (4 units installed off the coast of Gruissan, one of the best wind resources in Europe: the EOLMED project).