A ceremony has been held to mark the breaking of ground at Perth-headquartered SSE Renewables’ first project outside of the UK and Ireland.
Elected representatives and supply chain partners on the Chaintrix-Bierges and Vélye wind farm project attended a celebratory event at Vélye Village Hall in the Grand-Est region of France.
Chaintrix-Bierges and Vélye Wind Farm is SSE Renewables’ first project to enter construction outside of the UK and Ireland and the first from its southern Europe pipeline acquired last year.
Delivery of the project represents a total capital investment in excess of €30 million by SSE Renewables. This will help support the local economy in the Grand-Est region, with around 80 construction roles expected to be supported at peak delivery, the organisation added.
The balance of plant works are being delivered by lead contractor Omexom in partnership with civils contractor Pothelet. Various other suppliers including Vodafone, Dekra, Elys, Groupe Geotec, and Auddicé have also been appointed to support the project. Siemens Gamesa will act as the wind turbine supplier for the project.
Chaintrix-Bierges and Vélye is targeting commissioning at the end of 2024. When complete, the wind farm will be capable of generating enough low-carbon energy over its expected 35-year lifetime to power over 14,000 homes annually.
Delphine Henri, France director of SSE Renewables, said, “We are delighted to be able to bring together our partners at Vélye to launch the construction of the Chaintrix-Bierges and Vélye wind farm. This is SSE Renewables’ first wind farm in France. Nearly 80 professionals will be involved in its construction. It’s a crucial next step for this project, which has been in development for around eight years.
“From the earliest stages of thinking about this project, every step has been guided by a deep commitment to involving and informing the community, with a sincere desire for transparency and close collaboration with local residents and stakeholders. As a result, this project embodies a passionate response to environmental challenges while honouring the aspirations of stakeholders to the fullest.
“Onshore wind energy will play an important role and will be key to meeting France’s renewable energy targets and making it carbon neutral by 2050. Our team has done a fantastic job in successfully developing this project over the last few years. It shows how we are putting our ambition into action in France. It will make a small but symbolically important contribution to SSE Renewables’ goal of increasing our operational renewable capacity to more than 9 GW by 2027.”
