JDR Cable Systems (JDR) has been awarded the contract to supply, test, and terminate the 66 kV dynamic inter-array cables (IAC) for the 30 MW EolMed floating wind project offshore France.
JDR will design and manufacture the 66 kV dynamic cables, with the cable cores being produced at TFK’s Bydgoszcz plant in Poland.
The assets will be transported for final assembly and testing at the company’s facility in Hartlepool, the UK.
Bourbon Offshore Gaïa will be responsible for the transport and installation of the cables and accessories between each of the 10 MW floating wind turbines and the EolMed floating electrical hub.
Once the cables have been installed, JDR’s teams will be on-site to test and terminate the IAC system. The manufacture and delivery of the cables will be completed in the second half of 2024.
Located in the south of France, 18 kilometres off the coast of Gruissan and Port-La Nouvelle in the Occitanie region, the EolMed pre-commercial project will be connected to the French Electricity Transmission Network (RTE), providing approximately 100 million kWh per year of power – equivalent to the electrical consumption of 50,000 people, said JDR.
Fully consented in February 2021, EolMed will comprise three Vestas V164-10.0 MW wind turbines mounted on BW Ideol’s Damping Pool floating foundations and installed in water depths of around 60 metres.
The construction of the project started in April with the arrival of the first steel block that will make up the three floating substructures in the Port-La Nouvelle.
The project reached a financial close in March of last year after the partners secured EUR 85 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The Mediterranean Sea pilot wind farm, being developed by Qair, TotalEnergies, and BW Ideol, is set to become one of the first three floating offshore wind farms in France when it is commissioned in mid-2024.