Building for life, building for light

As part of a consortium with Saipem and Boskalis, Bouygues Travaux Publics has achieved a remarkable feat by building and installing the foundations for the 71 wind turbines at the Fécamp offshore wind farm in Normandy in record time. This wind farm, which boasts a total capacity of around 500 MW, is a flagship project for the region’s energy transition, providing clean, renewable energy to hundreds of thousands of homes.

Located over 13 kilometres off the coast, the Fécamp offshore wind farm marks a significant step forward in terms of renewable energy in Normandy. By producing the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of almost 770,000 people, i.e. over 60% of the population of the Seine-Maritime department, this project is a substantial contribution to the fight against climate change and helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At the time, it was a world first to build 71 gravity foundations, each weighing almost 5,000 tonnes, simultaneously on the same site. Thanks to four parallel production lines, the foundations were built on a truly industrial scale, combining meticulous preparation with optimised design, methods and transport at sea. Amounts of materials were kept to a minimum, enabling the “leanest” possible design of the foundations. 

This project, delivered in 2022, is further confirmation of Bouygues Construction’s expertise in civil engineering and its key role in building infrastructures that are essential to the future of the country’s energy supply.