Iberdrola-owned French offshore wind farm Saint-Brieuc has begun supplying power to the country’s national electricity grid.
The 496MW wind farm is located 16.3km off the coast of Saint-Brieuc Bay in Brittany, north-western France. It has been connected to the grid by Réseau de Transport d’Électricité, the country’s transmission system operator.
Following the completion of its testing phase, the first electricity was transmitted on 5 July 2023.
Electricity is collected by an offshore electric substation close to the wind farm.
It is then transported via two subsea export cables with a voltage of 225kV to Caroual beach in Erquy.
The electricity is transmitted into the grid via the Doberie substation located in Hénansal (Côtes-d’Armor).
Iberdrola France CEO Emmanuel Rollin stated: “It is with great pride that we have started producing clean energy from the first wind turbines. This is a landmark moment, following 12 years of hard work to deliver this mega-scale project, which contributes both to the energy security of Brittany and to the energy transition, a key element in the battle against climate change.”
The project is powered by 62 Siemens Gamesa SG 8.0-167 DD offshore wind turbines, each with 8MW of capacity.
Saint-Brieuc is Iberdrola’s first offshore wind project in France and its second in the country to generate power.
The company has invested €2.4bn ($2.61bn) in the wind farm’s construction.
Expected to be operational by the end of 2023, the facility will generate 1,820 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually, enough to meet the needs of 835,000 French households and equivalent to 9% of Brittany’s total electricity consumption.
