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Locations: France: Saint-Nazaire, Fécamp, Courseulles, Yeu-Noirmoutier, Tréport, Eolmed
Germany: Godewind 3, Nordseecluster 1 & 2Client: Chantiers de l’Atlantique and further clients Services: Scaffolding, rope access, shrink wrapping, mechanical work Scale: 60-80 turbines per wind farm, substations 15m above sea level Team size per assignment: 2-8 people Active since: 2021
The briefing arrives the night before. By 7 am, the team is on the boat. By 8:30 am, they are 50 kilometres off the French coast, looking up at a steel platform the size of a large house, sitting 15 metres above the waterline.
Then the work begins.
The first contract was in 2021. Project eight is underway.
In 2021, KAEFER France secured its first offshore scaffolding contract with Chantiers de l’Atlantique for the wind farm off Saint-Nazaire, the first of its kind in France.
That first project laid the foundation for a long-term partnership: Fécamp, Courseulles, Godewind 3 in Germany, Yeu-Noirmoutier, Tréport, and projects running through 2026. Beyond Chantiers de l’Atlantique, KAEFER now works with several further clients across the French and German offshore wind sector.
The person who has built much of that track record is Raphaël Thomas, Offshore Business Manager at KAEFER France, and someone who has spent 20 years with the company, moving from site preparer to site manager to project manager across scaffolding, insulation, asbestos removal, and rope access, before finding his home in offshore wind.
“This is the reward for years of developing KAEFER’s services with our clients in the renewable marine energy sector. We remain among their preferred suppliers.”
Scaffolding, rope access, shrink wrapping – and one team for all three.
The work centres on the offshore electrical substation: a platform roughly 20 by 20 metres, collecting the energy generated by 60 to 80 wind turbines. KAEFER erects tarpaulin-covered scaffolding to protect against wind and rain, making it possible for welders, painters, and electricians to work safely in conditions that would otherwise stop them entirely.
Where scaffolding cannot reach, rope access teams take over – descending into areas inaccessible by any other means, carrying out insulation, inspection, and repair work. It is also where multiple KAEFER competencies come together in a single team, on a single project.
Shrink wrapping offshore is all about survival: protecting sensitive, unmanned equipment from condensation, damp, and the slow creep of salt air, while limiting fire spread in an environment where help is never close.
50 km offshore, there are no return trips. Everything has to fit first time.
On land, forgetting a tool means a short walk. Fifty kilometres offshore, it means a lost day.
Every scaffolding plan is drawn up a year in advance. Equipment arrives by boat – occasionally by helicopter. The number of people on board is limited by available emergency resources, typically around 30. Teams range from 2 to 8 people. And when the unexpected happens, as it always does, experienced teams find a way.
Weather adds another layer. A single day can bring multiple go and no-go calls before the ship’s captain makes the final decision. Some days, the team makes it out and gets the work done. Other days, they battle rough seas just to reach the platform – and turn back without setting foot on it.
“Waiting at sea for the weather to clear is sometimes the hardest thing to cope with,” Raphaël admits. “But then you spot a dolphin on the way out, or arrive by helicopter at a platform in the middle of the sea – and it makes a change from driving to work.”
France is catching up. And KAEFER is part of that shift.
Largely because of its focus on nuclear power, France has historically lagged behind the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands in offshore wind. That is changing. New projects are in the pipeline, further from shore, in deeper water, on a larger scale – driven by the need for a more diverse energy mix and greater energy independence.
For Raphaël and his team, the bigger picture is felt every day on the water. They are a diverse group – scaffolders and rope access specialists, men and women – united, he says, by a shared love of adventure and the ability to adapt to whatever the sea throws at them. “That’s our strength and what our clients appreciate.”
That trust, Raphaël says, was earned by the people on the water every day. “I want to thank every person who has worked and continues to work on these offshore sites. Their professionalism is what built the confidence our clients have in us today.”
Twenty years in, the curiosity has not faded.
“I love to experience new things, and this job never stops delivering them.”
Note: Written by humans – with a little help from GenAI. This article combines human understanding and intelligent digital tools to bring KAEFER stories to life.