Areva 8MW set for St Brieuc

FRANCE: Ailes Marines, the Iberdrola-led consortium awarded the 500MW St Brieuc project, has said that it will use Areva's new 8MW turbine instead of the planned 5MW machine. It will also install jacket foundations on the project.

by Jan Dodd 11 July 2014

Areva's 8MW machine will be deployed at the Saint Brieuc project

The project will now consist of 62 8MW machines, giving a total capacity of 496MW, slightly down from 500MW. Nevertheless, Ailes Marines expects to see a 7% increase in productivity by using the larger turbines. The consortium will apply to the energy minister next week to approve the change.

Following site studies, the consortium said in June it was instead of jackets, a move strongly opposed by local fishermen.

However, Ailes Marines now says it will be able to use jackets, given the smaller number of turbines, while staying within the project cost of EUR 2 billion.

The turbines will be built at Areva's planned factories in Le Havre, with production scheduled to start in 2018. St-Brieuc is scheduled to come online in phases from 2018 to 2020.