SGRE signs quay deal for Le Havre factory

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) and port manager Haropa Ports, have signed a key deal to build an industrial offshore wind complex at the Port of Le Havre.

SGRE will produce blades, nacelles and generators for French offshore wind projects at Le Havre

SGRE signed a 30-year lease for an area spanning 36 hectares in Le Havre, where it will build a factory and set up an area for installation activities.

The factory will produce blades, generators and nacelles for 8MW and 7MW turbines for the offshore windfarms of Fécamp and Courseulles, Saint-Brieuc, Dieppe-Le Tréport and Yeu Noirmoutier.

Both parties described the planned industrial complex as France's "biggest industrial renewable energy project to date".

"To be able to both manufacture and install from the same place has never been done before," SGRE France spokesperson Cedric Turnaco told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç.

"All we need now are the administrative authorisations, which we're well placed to obtain very soon, and then we can start to recruit and train the 750 people we will need to work on this project."

SGRE hopes to start construction in the middle of next year and begin operating at the end of 2021.