Areva and STX France have announced a cooperative arrangement to strengthen their presence in the European offshore wind power market. Areva wants to ally its turbine design and production expertise with STX France's strengths in offshore foundations. STX France is part of shipbuilding group, STX Europe.
The partners intend to make joint turbine/foundation offers to project developers, as a means of reducing project costs. Around one third of the investment expenditure for an offshore wind farm is accounted for by the manufacture, transportation and installation of foundations and turbine towers. By optimising the process, significant cost savings could accrue.
Louis-François Durret, CEO of Areva Renewables, said the company was "very happy to be collaborating with STX France and benefitting from their expertise." He added that the alliance would help to strengthen the competitiveness of France's offshore wind manufacturing base.
Laurent Castaing, CEO of STX France, said: "By bringing our engineering ability to the table, we will be in a position to offer an extremely efficient and competitive global solution".
