Construction begins on Nobelwind's 165MW North Sea windfarm

Noblewind announced that the first components for the 165MW offshore wind farm in Belgium arrived last Thursday at the port of Oostende. The project is being developed by a consortium involving Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo, Belgian offshore developer Parkwind and Dutch investor Meewind. It will use 50, 3.3MW MHI Vestas wind turbines. Foundations for the turbines will be assembled at the Renewable Energy Base Oostende (REBO), in readiness for installation works offshore, scheduled to commence in May and conclude in September, weather permitting. 

Nobelwind announces the start of the construction works of the 4th offshore wind farm in the Belgian territorial waters. The first activities will be performed in the harbor of Oostende, on the REBO site, that will be used as a Marshalling harbor for the Nobelwind project. Nobelwind has installed its offshore grid which is operational and connected to the Zeebrugge sub-station of Elia.

The shareholder consortium around Nobelwind consists out of the Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo, the Dutch investor Meewind and Parkwind. Parkwind is in charge of the coordination of the construction works.

Nobelwind has appointed Jan De Nul as EPCI contractor to install all foundations and the 50 3.3 MW MHI Vestas wind-turbines offshore. These turbines will have an installed capacity of 165 megawatt (MW) and will supply green power to 186.000 Belgian families on a yearly basis.

The start of the works is running according to planning. The first foundation components arrived in the harbor of Oostende on March 23. As of the end of March the project expects additional foundation components to be delivered on site every 2 to 3 weeks. The REBO Site will be used for final assembly of the foundations. The cranes and other equipment needed to perform the assembly works will be installed in the coming days on site by the different contractors.

The first installation offshore is expected to start early May. By that date the installation vessel will pick up the different foundation components and prepare for installation offshore. The installation of all foundations is expected to last until the beginning of September, this depending on the weather conditions.

Source: Jan De Nul Group