By late October 2024, the subsea export cable for the EFGL project, whose installation had been started in early May 2024 by SDI’s French teams mobilised by RTE, was reported as having just been fully installed offshore. The cable is now stored and secured on the seabed in wet storage, marking a key milestone in connecting the EFGL floating wind farm to the onshore electricity grid.
By 7 March 2023, RTE had started laying the 63 kV export cable that will connect the Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating wind farm to the French national grid. RTE stated that its teams had initiated work to install a nearly 20‑kilometre connection that is both submarine and underground, linking the offshore site more than 16 km off Leucate and Le Barcarès to the onshore grid, marking the start of EFGL’s export cable installation.
RTE’s 5 March 2023 project update reports that on Sunday 5 March at Le Barcarès, the fourreau (duct) for the future 63 kV export cable of the Éoliennes flottantes du golfe du Lion (EFGL) project was put in the water, marking the first offshore works (“premiers travaux en mer”) for the export connection. This corresponds to the start of offshore construction for the EFGL export cable.
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The EFGL export connection is the high-voltage HVAC export link built by RTE to evacuate power from the Les Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) pilot floating wind farm (3 × Vestas V164‑10.0 MW on WindFloat platforms). The connection comprises a subsea and onshore underground 63 kV expor...
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EFGL export cable, Les Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion export cable, câble export EFGL, Raccordement du parc éolien flottant pilote au large du Golfe du Lion (Zone de Leucate)
On 29 June 2022, Global Maritime announced it had been awarded the Marine Warranty Survey contract for the EFGL project, providing MWS services across the construction phase including for the export cable, to support RTE and Ocean Winds in managing technical and marine risks on the grid connection works.
RTE began construction works at the existing Salanques onshore electrical substation in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque in May 2022, as part of the grid connection for the EFGL floating wind pilot project in the Golfe du Lion. These works at the Salanques substation are scheduled to run from May 2022 to June 2023 to enable connection of the offshore wind farm to the mainland network.
In May 2022, RTE began the civil engineering works for the underground onshore connection (création du génie civil de la liaison souterraine) for the EFGL export cable link between the landfall at Le Barcarès and the existing Salanques substation, marking the start of the onshore cable installation campaign. According to the project schedule, these civil works were planned to run from May to November 2022 before subsequent pulling of the terrestrial connection cable.
On 20 April 2021, French TSO RTE awarded an EPCI contract for the EFGL export cable to DEME’s French subsidiary SDI, working in consortium with JDR Cables, covering supply of the subsea and onshore export cable sections and their installation to connect the 30 MW EFGL floating wind farm to the onshore substation near Le Barcarès/Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque.
RTE reached the Final Investment Decision for the electrical connection of the EFGL floating wind pilot project in spring 2021, confirming funding to build the 63 kV subsea and underground link of around 20 km that will connect the offshore wind farm in the Golfe du Lion (Leucate area) to the existing Salanques substation at Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque.
In November 2019, the environmental authorisation (autorisation environnementale) for RTE’s grid connection of the EFGL floating wind pilot project in the Golfe du Lion was granted, covering the 63 kV submarine and underground export cable linking the offshore wind farm area near Leucate and Le Barcarès to the existing Salanques substation.
RTE held a formal public inquiry (enquête publique) for the EFGL pilot floating wind farm and its 63 kV grid connection between 23 April and 23 May 2019, with a dematerialised register available for stakeholders to submit comments on the proposed offshore and onshore cable route and associated works.
On 24 October 2018, RTE submitted the required authorisation applications (“demandes d’autorisation”) for the grid connection of the Éoliennes Flottantes du Golfe du Lion (EFGL) floating wind pilot farm, covering the planned 63 kV submarine and underground link of around 20 km between the offshore site off Leucate and the existing Salanques substation.
RTE conducted a formal “concertation préalable” public consultation on the export cable route for the EFGL floating wind farm connection between 27 June and 27 September 2017. Under the aegis of the Prefect of Aude, RTE organised two public meetings in Leucate and Le Barcarès and followed these with eight thematic workshops on biodiversity, technical and industrial aspects, maritime uses and landscapes to engage local stakeholders and residents on the proposed submarine and underground cable corridor.
RTE completed its constraint-mapping and stakeholder consultation to define the export cable route for connecting the EFGL floating wind farm to the existing Salanques substation, resulting in the identification of a study area and a lowest‑impact corridor (“fuseau de moindre impact”) for the offshore and onshore connection. These were formally validated by the Prefect of Aude on 21 March 2017, confirming the corridor of passage that minimises environmental, human and socio‑economic impacts.
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