Wind Energy – Saint-Nazaire

France’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm Saint-Nazaire started full operations on Wednesday, adding 480 megawatts of capacity to the grid.

Guests attending the grand opening ceremony included Hugo Bouvy, Managing Director DEME Offshore. He stated that drilling of monopiles in solid rock was a novelty for DEME Offshore and will likely soon be followed by more challenging projects in France.

The Saint-Nazaire wind farm, located between 12 and 20 km off France’s west coast, consists of 80 turbines and will provide clean energy to power the equivalent of 400,000 homes annually, or 20% of the Loire-Atlantique region’s electricity consumption.

The Saint-Nazaire project took 10 years to complete. In September, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the site and vowed to cut red tape to halve the time it takes in France to get renewable projects off the ground.

France is aiming to produce a third of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and earlier this year. Macron said he wants France to have about 50 offshore wind farms by 2050.