DEME Offshore, member of DEME Group, the global civil and maritime engineering solutions provider,  announced that it has reached its halfway mark installation milestone with the foundation installation of the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm in France. Today’s announcement follows DEME’s August announcement regarding the on-time delivery of the St Nazaire offshore substation.

“Today’s achievement is a testament to the commitment of our entire team and solidifies our reputation as the number one wind farm contractor in the world. Not only are we the first to install a wind farm in rock with industry-first technology, the Saint-Nazaire project is also being carried out in harsh Atlantic conditions. Together with our client Parc éolien en mer de Saint-Nazaire and our partner Eiffage Métal, we will continue our excellent cooperation for the remaining foundations,” says Bart De Poorter, General Manager DEME Offshore.

Having started construction in spring 2021, 40 out of a total of 80 XL foundations are now installed in record times.  The successful deployment of DEME’s industry-first technology is setting a new industry standard for efficient Offshore Wind installation projects in challenging marine conditions and solid rock.

For the installation of the Saint-Nazaire Offshore Wind Farm, DEME Offshore for the first time is deploying its 350-tonne Offshore Foundation Drill (OFD) and tailor-made ‘MODIGA’, another DEME innovation and industry-first technology which allows encapsulating the drilling and installation operations and shields them from the adverse Atlantic marine conditions.

Whereas the OFD was developed with Herrenknecht, a global leader in tunnel boring machines, the design and development of the MODIGA happened together with TMS, a leading offshore equipment manufacturer.

The complete technological solution is being deployed from DEME Offshore’s installation vessel ‘Innovation’.