RTE France has awarded a € 115 million contract to Nexans to supply and install the 67km offshore and 93km onshore power export cables for the 496 MW Saint Brieuc offshore wind farm. The wind farm is located in the English Channel, some 16 km off the coast of Saint Brieuc Bay.
The project is being developed by the Ailes Marines Consortium which has been awarded 500 MW capacity transmission by the French government. RTE, the French transmission system operator, will design, build and maintain the two 225 kV links (submarine and land) to connect the offshore wind farm to the grid.
For the submarine cables, Nexans will supply two lengths of 33.5 km 225 kV 3-core cable with a hybrid armouring solution. The cable also features a fibre optic element for remote health monitoring of the cable link and transmission of information between the offshore wind farm and land base. Cables will be installed by Nexans’ own cable-laying vessel, the CS Skagerrak, while the Capjet system will be used to trench the cables into the seabed for protection. The awarded contract also includes Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR) services for the offshore part of the link. The land cables will include 93 km of 225 kV single-core cable.
