Royal Boskalis Westminster in consortium with Bouygues Travaux Publics and Saipem has been awarded the design, construction and installation scope for 71 concrete Gravity-Based Structures (GBS) as the foundation for the Fécamp offshore wind farm in Normandy, France.

The overall value of the deal is €552 million and the divided contract value is 40.5 percent Bouygues Travaux Publics, 40.5 percent Saipem, and 19 percent Boskalis.

The award was made by Eoliennes Offshore des Hautes Falaises (EOHF).

The offshore wind farm will be built in Normandy, between 13 and 22 kilometers off the Fécamp coast. At depths between 25 and 30 meters, the 71 wind turbines will be connected to the gravity-based foundations installed on the seabed.

Within the consortium, Bouygues, as the consortium’s leader, and Saipem are tasked with designing, constructing and installing the 71 gravity-based foundations on the seabed, with an individual weight of up to 5.000 tons required to ensure the stability of the 7MW wind turbines.

Boskalis is responsible for designing and preparing the seabed rock foundation prior to installation of GBS, and for scour protection and ballasting of the GBS after installation on the seabed.

The foundations will be constructed in the Bougainville maritime works yard in the Grand Port Maritime of Le Havre and will be transported by barge to the offshore wind farm site. The works that will begin in the next few days are due to be completed by the end of 2022.

The commissioning and operational start-up of the wind farm is scheduled for 2023.

With a total power output of some 500MW, the Fécamp offshore wind farm should produce the equivalent of the domestic electricity consumption of approximately 770.000 people, representing more than 60 percent of the inhabitants of the Seine-Maritime department.