Marine renewable energies
Plug in here, play offshore!
With almost 640 km of coastline swept by consistently strong winds and bordered by the strong current of Alderney Race, Normandy is blessed with outstanding natural assets for the development of Marine Renewable Energies.
Ports of Normandy has led the way by investing at an early stage to tackle the technological and logistical challenges of a sector that is making a massive contribution to the energy transition. It has become France’s leader in MRE, with almost 1,000 jobs already created.
Winning factors? Top-quality infrastructures, most of which are already tried and tested. Considerable market potential: : 5 wind farms currently being set up – or in the planning stage – along the Normandy coast, a world-class tidal energy site (Alderney Race), and immediate proximity to the UK and Ireland. This is allied with highly specific local expertise in heavy-lift logistics, metallurgy, quarry material production, and more.
Ports of Normandy is a key stakeholder along the entire value chain (industrial production, assembly hub, marshalling port, maintenance, etc.) and in major marine technologies (bottom-fixed wind turbines, floating wind turbines and tidal energy).
Laurent Nativelle
Logistics Manager
Christophe Fouquet
Industrial clients
MRE in Caen-Ouistreham
The port of Caen-Ouistreham, located just a stone’s throw from the Calvados offshore wind farm, is home to its operations and maintenance base. Ports of Normandy has specially extended the East mole by 3 ha to accommodate 3 landing stages dedicated to MRE at the foot of this base to give service boats round-the-clock access.
Caen-Ouistreham is also the nearest support port during the wind farm’s construction phase for logistics (materials, medium-sized parts, human resources) and the provisioning of service boats.
MRE in Cherbourg
The leading French port for MRE, Cherbourg works for all wind farms in the English Channel. It has adequate land, exceptional infrastructure and the shipping conditions required to accommodate the entire MRE value chain, from bottom-fixed and floating wind turbines to tidal energy solutions.
These assets are backed by a strong local economy onshore geared towards energy, metallurgy, composites, industrial cargo logistics, etc. The sector’s main players have placed their trust in Ports of Normandy!
MRE in Dieppe
Located just a few miles from the future Dieppe Le Tréport wind farm, Dieppe’s outer harbour has been selected by EMDT for the operations and maintenance base for this wind farm, creating over a hundred jobs.
Dieppe is also the nearest support port during the wind farm’s construction phase for logistics (materials, medium-sized parts, human resources) and the provisioning and maintenance of service boats.
Brief overview
In 2019, Ports of Normandy expanded the port of Caen-Ouistreham by three hectares to enable EDF to set up its operation and maintenance base for the Calvados wind farm. This base was inaugurated in 2023. In the long term, it should employ about 100 people. The project is the culmination of several years of cooperation between the Calvados wind farm and Ports of Normandy teams, and is part of a key programme of investment (€28M) we have undertaken for the port.
An ambitious programme...
... that aimed to achieve multiple goals. In addition to the pontoons reserved for the ships transporting operations and maintenance staff of the future offshore wind farm, the facility is intended to guarantee the economic future of the port thanks to a new guidance system for cargo vessels entering the west lock, but also to improve working conditions for port users and the reception of fishers and recreational sailors.
Brief overview
Ports of Normandy chose very early on to invest massively in adapting its infrastructures to the needs expressed by the offshore bottom-fixed wind turbine industry. In the Port of Cherbourg we extended the port by 39 ha so that industrial operators could use 100 ha of hardstanding devoted to marine renewable energies and a heavy-lift quay able to accommodate up to 50 tonnes per m². Today, Cherbourg is home to numerous industrial operators which are involved in the manufacture of bottom-fixed wind turbines for Saint-Brieuc, Courseulles-sur-Mer and Fécamp as well as the LMWP factory which makes blades for the Haliade X-14MW.
Ever the pioneer, Ports of Normandy intends to continue the adaptation of its infrastructure so that it can meet the needs of the floating wind turbine sector. Calls for tenders are emerging and the industry is beginning to express its needs for manufacturing floating platforms (which can measure up to 100 m²), launching them and installing the wind turbines on them. The major part of tomorrow’s wind turbine market will be floating turbines. For Ports of Normandy this means exploiting the existing investments and consolidating them so they can satisfy the new needs. Surveys will be undertaken to prepare the ground for these investments.
Brief overview
The maintenance facility development is situated in the outer harbour, to the north of Gaston Lalitte quay. It comprises:
- 850 m² of open air storage
- 900 m² of offices
- 1,000 m² of hangars
- A car park for about fifty vehicles
- A 90 m pontoon which can accommodate three 30-metre vessels
Ports of Normandy will prepare the plot of land and everything relating to mooring the ships. Eoliennes en Mer Dieppe - Le Tréport (EMDT) will build the building and the car parks. Currently the Gaston Lalitte quay is used for unloading aggregates from the sea and heavy cargo on to hardstanding covering more than 50,000 m². The development works directed by Ports of Normandy (rip-rap, dredging and pontoon construction) will be situated to the east of the pier, in line with the current rip-rap, and will extend the hardstanding by 4,000 m² and include the construction of pontoons.