Samuel Nicolas

About Samuel Nicolas

Samuel first trained in naval architecture and offshore structural design. He has six years experience in the certification of offshore fixed structures like jackets and subsea, and six years in structural design for offshore wind electrical substations in shipyards.

Early career

Samuel graduated with an engineering degree in naval architecture and offshore structural design from ENSTA Bretagne, Brest, France (formerly ENSIETA).  

After a final internship at Doris Engineering in Paris, his first job was as a structural engineer for offshore fixed and subsea structures at Bureau Veritas, for the Oil&Gas Industry.  

With the growth of offshore wind and a lot of interesting challenges to overcome within the industry, Samuel choose to switch his experience to a greener way of producing energy.

Professional Experience

Samuel started in the offshore world as a structural engineer for the certification of offshore fixed and subsea structures at Bureau Veritas. Here he was mainly working on fixed jackets, newbuilds or lifetime extension for the Oil&Gas industry, in the Netherlands and Gulf of Africa, and on subsea structures for deepwater fields like CLOV and KAOMBO.  

After that, Samuel took the opportunity to improve his skills in offshore wind at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire, France, in a shipyard constructing both cruise ships and offshore wind electrical substations, topsides and foundation structures. He found it really interesting to have the construction yard next to the design office. Samuel worked mainly on the first French offshore wind farms electrical substations for Saint-Nazaire, Fecamp & Courseulles-sur-mer.

Why offshore wind?

“Offshore structural engineering is really exciting, by combining the environmental conditions of the sea, geotechnical engineering and structural design.  

I decided to take a greener way in offshore wind, while remaining in the field of offshore structures.  

Working for the first French offshore wind farms has been very exciting, with a lot of challenges to overcome, and following the project from the beginning of design until commissioning.”