Major milestone at 487 MW offshore wind farm in Belgium 

The construction contractor for the 487 MW Seamade offshore wind project off the coast at Zeebrugge in Belgium, DEME has announced that the two substations for the wind farm have been successfully installed in the Belgian North Sea.

Each with a weight of 1,200 tonnes, the substations transform the wind energy that is produced to 225 kV, which in turn allows the electricity to be brought to shore via Elia’s Modular Offshore Grid (MOG). The export cable transmitting the electricity to shore has been installed earlier with DEME’s cable installation vessel ‘Living Stone’.

The installation of the substations was executed with heavy lift vessel ‘Gulliver’, operated by DEME’s subsidiary Scaldis which is specialized in marine heavy lifting works. Earlier DEME’s offshore installation vessel ‘Innovation’ installed all of the foundations, including those for the two substations.

The installation of 58 turbines will begin in spring. DEME will deploy its offshore installation vessel ‘Apollo’. In April cable installation vessel ‘Living Stone’ will start the installation of the inter-array cables.

SeaMade offshore wind farm is owned by the joint venture of Otary RS, Engie Electrabel and Eneco Wind Belgium.

The project involves the development of a wind farm located in Vlaanderen zones 6 and 7 of the North Sea, off the coast of Belgium. The 58 units of  8.4 MW Siemens Gamesa turbines that weigh 465 tons each have a rotor diameter of 167 meters. Installed on monopile foundations, it generates energy that powers up to 500,000 households.