Iberdrola, a Spanish energy provider, has completed the first phase of construction on its 500 MW Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm in France. In the first phase, the company installed 65 per cent of the facility’s piles and 40 per cent of its offshore wind platforms. As per the company’s statement, Windar in Avilés and Navantia in Fene manufactured the piles and offshore wind platforms. A substation and 40 of the 62 wind turbines have been secured to the seabed with a total of 124 piles.
The turbines will be mounted onto the three-legged offshore wind platforms, which will support them. The Saint-Brieuc wind farm, which is 16 km from the French coast, will be the Iberdrola Group’s first large offshore wind farm in France. The wind farm is being constructed with an approximately €2.5 billion investment and is scheduled to go online later in 2023. It will be able to supply 835,000 people’s energy demands once it is up and running. By 2025, Iberdrola intends to invest €4 billion in France, the majority of which would go toward financing renewable energy projects.
In October 2022, Iberdrola commissioned the Port Augusta wind-solar hybrid facility in Australia, considered to be the world’s first of its kind. A 210 MW wind farm and a 107 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant make up the 317 MW hybrid project. The $312.3 million wind-solar hybrid project in Port Augusta was registered by the Australian Energy Market Operator in the National Electricity Market Registry. Reportedly, the largest hybrid power station in the southern hemisphere, it includes 250,000 solar panels and 50 wind turbines.
