Van Oord selected Bauer Spezialtiefbau GmbH for piling works for Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm

The use of sustainable and environmentally friendly equipment such as the newly designed Bauer Dive Drill DD 40 U is planned.

The Saint-Brieuc offshore wind farm will be the first large-scale offshore wind farm in Brittany and one of the first in France to obtain all the necessary government permits for its construction and operation. It will be built on an area of 75 km2 and comprise 62 turbines with a capacity of 8 MW each.

So in total, the wind farm will have a capacity of 496 MW. Located approx. 16 km off the French coast, the wind farm will produce 1,820 GWh per year – the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 835,000 people including heating. The Dutch marine contractor Van Oord awarded German specialist foundation company Bauer Spezialtiefbau GmbH to install 190 bored piles at 62 locations for 3-legged jackets, as well as one substation location consisting of a 4-legged jacket foundation. Van Oord will start the offshore operations in 2021 with the installation of the bored piles using its offshore installation vessel (OIV) Aeolus. The Aeolus will be assisted by a second vessel in 2022 to install jackets foundations. The commercialization will start in 2023.

Bauer Spezialtiefbau GmbH is going the provide and operate the drilling and grouting operations for the subsea operation, including the use of three newly designed Bauer Dive Drills DD 40 U, which will work simultaneously up to 47 m penetration depth in a rock structure up to 160 MPa and in a water depth of up to 37 m. Finally, onboard of OIV Aeolus Bauer will execute grouting operations to fix the 190 bored piles at the drilling

location. For Bauer Spezialtiefbau GmbH this project is a consequent development of the underwater drilling expertise gained over the last years and with the full support of the sister company Bauer Maschinen GmbH. The Dive Drill is designed for mixed soil and rock conditions and as a sustainable and environment friendly equipment. It is powered by electro hydraulic energy supply – a next step in the reduction of the CO2 footprint.