EDF Energies Nouvelles is eyeing the Chinese offshore wind farm Aurélie Barbaux Factory New the 09 / 10 / 2017
EDF Energies Nouvelles is counting on its prototype Blyth offshore wind farm in the United Kingdom to develop its expertise outside Europe. Installation of offshore wind turbine turbines on the EDF EN Blyth demonstrator site in the United Kingdom Its three French offshore wind projects, in Dunkirk, Saint-Nazaire, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp, are floundering in recourse. Whatever. EDF Energies Nouvelles, which already operates the C-Power park (325 MW) in Belgium, that of Teesside (62MW) in the United Kingdom, and which will connect its prototype Blyth (41MW) site to the grid before the end by 2017, sees further and bigger. "We are determined to become a major player in offshore wind energy", declared Antoine Cahuzac, CEO of EDF EN, during a visit to the Blyth wind farm in Mer-du-Nord,
Test innovationsOn this demonstrator site near Newcastle (United Kingdom) won by call for tenders in 2014, EDF EN has three locations. On the first, 6 km from the shore, EDF EN is using "gravity" foundations for the first time on offshore wind turbines placed at sea. With a hollow structure of concrete and steel weighing 4500 tonnes, they are brought to their location by flotation before being submerged to a depth of 30 meters by ballasting with more than 10 tonnes of sand. EDF EN had tested the technique to install the measurement mast of the future Fécamp offshore wind farm (000 MW). "The gravity foundations of Blyth will be able to serve us on the Fécamp offshore park (498 wind turbines) because they are the same ground conditions at the bottom", specifies Antoine Cahuzac. The Blyth demonstrator is also the first to use underground 83 kV submarine cables. And, for now, the site's five 66 MW MHI Vestas V164 turbines are the most powerful installed in an offshore farm.
Valuing your expertiseBut EDF EN has other assets to put forward. The EDF subsidiary is also a partner in a floating offshore wind farm project in the Mediterranean. And thanks to the acquisition last July, via its subsidiary Reetec, of the German company Off-shore Wind Solutions (OWS), EDF EN is ensuring the maintenance of a 400 MW wind farm in Germany. These European references give assurance to Antoine Cahuzac, who admits to looking insistently on the side of China. A difficult market and for the moment very Chinese-Chinese. "In China, only 2% of the turbines installed are not Chinese. But Chinese wind turbine manufacturers only achieve 1% of their turnover outside China. One would nevertheless be naive to believe that one will not see no Chinese turbines elsewhere than in China, "observes Antoine Cahuzac.
TRIDENT partnersBut, the Chinese are still little present in offshore wind power. Antoine Cahuzac therefore thinks that EDF EN can make the most of its expertise there. "We are looking on the Chinese coasts and on the east coast of the United States, but we will go with partners, explains the CEO of EDF EN. Our ambition is to have projects of 500 MW to 1GW by 2025. . " By then, EDF EN's French offshore wind farms off Fécamp, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Saint-Nazaire, with a total capacity of 1428 MW, should be connected to the grid.