2021 key data :
- 1,25M€ of turnover
- 8 recruitments 100% dedicated to offshore
- 155 days of operations carried out at sea
- 35 maintenance, commissioning or inspection operations, with 10 employees mobilized
- 11 sites visited in France and abroad
- 544 days of operations performed at the GE plant in Montoir-de-Bretagne and at the port of installation in Saint-Nazaire, with 7 different employees
Quality inspections at the Saint-Nazaire logistics hub.
For more than a year, VALEMO, in partnership with UL, has been providing its technical expertise to GE Renewable Energy to support the construction of the wind turbines for the Saint-Nazaire wind farm, which will be the first French offshore wind farm. Indeed, GE Renewable Energy has entrusted our teams with the realization of quality inspections on the 80 Haliade 150 6MW wind turbines intended for this project. Working closely with GE Renewable Energy and its subcontractors, our specialized inspectors audit and inspect the nacelles manufactured locally in Montoir-de-Bretagne in the Loire-Atlantique region, the power conversion modules in Saint Nazaire, as well as the towers and blades of the wind turbines on the site of the logistics hub in the port of Saint-Nazaire.
In this way, VALEMO confirms its long-term involvement with GE Renewable Energy, after providing technical assistance on the Le Carnet prototype in 2015 and the German Merkur park in 2018.
Floatgen maintenance
VALEMO’s maintenance teams bring their expertise to BW IDEOL’s teams with maintenance operations on Floatgen wind turbine prototype. This is the first “in-operation” wind turbine in France. Indeed, in 2021, our teams intervened 3 times at sea, on the wind turbine, to carry out routine maintenance operations and thus allow an optimal operation of the wind turbine, connected to the electrical grid through the infrastructures.
Interview of Antoine Dumas, one of our great offshore maintenance technicians!
What is your background?
I worked for about 15 years in the industry as an electro-mechanic. After training in wind energy, I obtained the BZ2E and joined VALEMO in 2018 as a maintenance technician, initially to perform preventive maintenance on Senvion machines. Since September 2020, I have been working full time with GE Renewable Energy to carry out quality inspections of the 80 Haliade 150 wind turbines currently under construction and which will equip the Banc de Guérande wind farm, the first French offshore wind farm, in Saint-Nazaire.
What are your missions? Are they specific to offshore?
It mainly consists in quality inspections carried out on 3 different sites. Firstly, at the Montoir-de-Bretagne plant, where I carry out audits of the nacelles manufactured on the site as they leave the factory. I also work with Eiffage Clemessy for visual inspections of the power conversion modules assembled in their Saint-Nazaire plant. Finally, a new aspect of my mission is that the various elements (nacelles, towers, blades) are beginning to arrive at the logistics hub in the port of Saint-Nazaire, where quality controls must be carried out, in particular after they have been transported by ship, before they are assembled and before they are loaded onto the installation ship.
What do you mostly appreciate in this mission dedicated to the offshore ?
This is a very different mission from machine inspections in operation, where we check the operation of the turbine, in connection with the preventive maintenance stages. Here, we inspect new structures. In addition to the traditional skills (electricity, mechanics, hydraulics, composite fibers, etc.), we had to acquire new skills, particularly in the areas of corrosion inspection and painting.
The scope of the mission is very comprehensive and diverse, with specific features such as laser measurements to check the ovality of the towers. Today, we can say that we know the Haliade 150 in great detail. The nacelle checklist includes several thousand checkpoints!
And of course, I am extremely proud to contribute to the construction of the first French offshore wind farm and to participate in the development of VALEMO. It is a real source of satisfaction to contribute to the perfection of these new machines!
Thank you Alexandre!