Prysmian reports that the company has won three turnkey projects to supply and install submarine inter-array cable systems that will represent France’s first large-scale offshore wind farms, and collectively require 345 km of cable.
A press release said that two of the projects, from Eolien Maritime France (EMF), are for two offshore wind farms—Fécamp and Courseulles-sur-Mer, owned by EMF and wpd offshore GmbH—located off the North France coast. Those contracts are worth more than €200 million, and are expected to be completed next year. A third project, for the Saint Nazaire wind farm—also owned by Eolien Maritime France—is worth more than €20 million, and is being secured by a consortium between Prysmian and Louis Dreyfus Travocean.
“These new important awards confirm that we have all the capabilities to achieve our ambitious growth targets in the offshore wind farm market,” said Hakan Ozmen, an executive vice president of the Prysmian Group. “Our investments have strengthened both our production capacity and installation capabilities and the market is showing its confidence in us.”
The three wind farms will require 33 kV three–core submarine cable systems with XLPE insulation. The Fécamp project will connect 83 wind turbine generators (WTGs) with a total capacity of 498 MW, while Courseulles-sur-Mer will connect 75 WTGs with a total capacity of 450 MW. Cable, accessories and terminating services will also be provided by Prysmian for the 80 WTGs for the 480-MW capacity of Saint Nazaire.
The projects, the release said, will represent France’s first large-scale offshore wind farms. Prysmian will rely on the resources of General Cable’s NSW subsidiary. Cable cores will be manufactured at the Group’s center of excellence in Montereau-fault-yonne, France, and then assembled and finished in Nordenham, Germany, providing the French market with Prysmian’s locally manufactured cable systems.
For Fécamp and Courseulles-sur-Mer, Prysmian will be the turnkey provider, supplying and installing all interarray cables between the WTGs. Delivery and commissioning of the cables are expected during the period 2020-2022, depending on the individual project timelines.
“These awards represent an important milestone for Prysmian as they are related to the first major projects in this market and they show that our ambition of becoming a one-stop service provider covering the entire supply chain is credible and sustainable,” said Alessandro Panico, sales team manager, offshore wind, Prysmian Group. To date, the Group notes that it has secured offshore wind projects worth more than €650M in 2017-2018.