DEME’s installation vessel Apollo is now at the site of the French offshore wind farm Dieppe Le Tréport, ready to start installing pin piles for the project’s 62 jacket foundations.

According to an update DEME posted on social media on 28 June, Apollo arrived at the offshore wind farm site this week and the DEME crew and project team are now preparing the piling operations for the first jacket foundation.

The installation vessel arrived in France from Vlissingen in the Netherlands, where it sailed in after completing transition piece installation on Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland last month.

DEME will carry out the piling work on Dieppe Le Tréport under a contract from 2023, which covers the transport and installation of the pin piles and jacket foundations for the wind farm’s 62 wind turbines.

The contract is one of the three the Belgian offshore construction company signed for the project. DEME will also install the pin piles, the jacket, and the topside for the offshore substation and 120 kilometres of inter-array cables under an EPCI contract.

The pin piles and the jacket foundations for the wind turbines and the offshore substation are being delivered by a consortium between the Spanish manufacturers Navantia Seanergies and Windar Renovables.

The offshore substation is being built by the French company Chantiers de’l Atlantique.

Located 15 kilometres off the city of Le Tréport and 17 kilometres off the city of Dieppe, the Dieppe Le Tréport offshore wind farm will have 62 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW wind turbines and an installed capacity of 496 MW.

The 496 MW offshore wind farm, owned by OW Ocean Winds, Sumitomo Corporation, and Banque des Territoires, is scheduled to go into operation in 2026.