It is one of the summer tourist hits. And such a success was difficult to envisage even a year ago. Off Saint-Nazaire and Le Croisic, about 12 km from the Loire-Atlantique coast, is the first offshore wind farm in France. Made up of 80 wind turbines, the site has been in service since the end of 2022. The gigantic masts and blades (up to 280 meters high) of these modern-day mills are visible from the continent in good weather. This arouses persistent criticism on the aesthetic impact, but also a great deal of curiosity. The proof is that the boat tours organized for the general public were sold out all summer.
The tourist office of Saint-Nazaire, the cruise company Navix, as well as EDF Renouvelables, which operates the park, have all three offered around twenty cruises in total. For the same observation: you had to book early to hope to get a place on board. “We had proposed three dates last year as a test and it went like little skates. This summer, we had planned five outings and then we finally added four more given the very high demand, ”explains Marie Bibard, communication officer for Saint-Nazaire agglomeration tourism.
“It’s very impressive, you feel very small”
The public operator, which thus transported around 1,500 people this summer, plans to work twice as hard for next year. “We have local visitors who want to see the wind turbines more closely, including those who already have a clear opinion on the park, notes Marie Bibard. We also have a lot of summer visitors who want to take advantage of their stay in the region to discover this site and understand how it works. This is new on a French scale, it raises a lot of questions. »
The visit, commented by a guide, lasts about three hours and allows you to enter the heart of the wind farm, but do not approach within 50 meters of a wind turbine, knowing that they are separated by one kilometer each , and not less than 200 m from the electrical substation, as required by the regulations. “It’s very impressive, the wind turbines are really huge. When you compare to the size of the boat, you feel very small,” says Michel, a tourist in July, who also enjoyed “the sea trip and the view of the coast”.
“Positive fallout for the territory”
On the EDF side, we are “delighted with this enthusiasm even if we are still surprised by this quantity of requests, much more important than for the terrestrial parks”. “It demonstrates the population’s strong interest in renewable energies and their operation,” says Marc Chiron, deputy director of offshore operations at EDF Renouvelables. It is very gratifying for us. It also contributes to the positive impact on the territory. This bodes well for our future off-shore parks. »
This summer success also illustrates the enthusiasm for industrial tourism almost everywhere in France and in Saint-Nazaire in particular. The tourist office, which has long specialized in the promotion of “know-how”, has thus seen the attendance of its guided tours of the Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Airbus or the Grand maritime port “further progress” this summer.
Already visits to Saint-Brieuc
In addition to organized cruises, the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm is open to boaters, in a very controlled manner. The curious on the boat are however few in number given the distance from the coast and the need to have an offshore license.
Off Saint-Brieuc, France’s second offshore wind farm also hosted a few tourist cruises this summer. Still under construction, its full commissioning by the Spanish company Iberdrola is scheduled for the end of 2023. It will then have 62 wind turbines for a power of 496 megawatts (MW). The Saint-Nazaire park has a power of 480 MW.
Wind turbine installation work is also underway off Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) and Courseulles-sur-mer (Calvados), pending the imminent start of projects on the islands of Yeu and Noirmoutier (Vendée), Dieppe (Seine-Maritime) and Dunkirk (North).