GE orders Saint-Nazaire CTVs

GE Renewable Energy has placed an order with the joint venture of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Tidal Transit for two crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind project in France.

The joint venture LD Tide selected naval architects MAURIC to design the CTVs and French shipyard OCEA to construct them.

Construction will start in 2021, with commissioning scheduled for 2022.

The vessels will be able to accommodate 24 technicians and three crew members and will have a service speed of up to 25kn.

“We are very pleased with this new partnership with LD Tide,” said Sebastian Mertens, Director of Service Offshore Wind at GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind.

“We are convinced that a long-term collaboration at a local level, with the aim of bringing the latest technologies to this first large-scale offshore wind project in French waters, is a formula for success.”

Saint-Nazaire, also known as Parc du Banc de Guérande, will comprise 80 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines manufactured in France and scheduled to be operational in the summer of 2022, when it will become France’s first commercial offshore wind farm.

The 480 MW project is being developed by Eolien Maritime France (EMF), a consortium of EDF Renouvelables, Enbridge, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.