Monopile foundations and transition pieces are being loaded into Deme Group’s installation vessel ‘Innovation’ to be installed at the SeaMade offshore wind farm in Belgium
Image: Deme’s vessel loading the foundations and transition pieces for the SeaMade wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of DEME.
Deme Group’s installation vessel ‘Innovation’ is all set to sail for installing the 487MW SeaMade offshore wind project, off the coast of Belgium.
At present, the first monopoles and transition pieces are begin loaded at SIF’s Maasvlakte terminal in Rotterdam.
For the two wind farms, Deme will install all the 58 foundations and all the inter-array cables, along with the installation of two offshore substation and the 220kV submarine high voltage cable installation.
SeaMade consists of two offshore wind farms, which were previously knows as the 235MW Mermaid and the 252MW Seastar.
Deme CEO Luc Vandenbulcke said: “After months of careful planning and engineering, it is great to kick-off the offshore works at the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium. For now, this is the last wind farm developed in the Belgian North Sea. Thanks to our country being at the forefront of offshore renewable energy, we had the opportunity to develop a leading cluster of Belgian companies involved in the construction of offshore wind farms globally.
“We look forward to working with our partners and all stakeholders on the SeaMade project, and are confident also in the future our combined expertise can play a major role in Belgium’s ambition to double the offshore wind capacity to 4 GW by 2025.”
The SeaMade project will generate enough electricity to power 500,000 Belgian homes
By next spring, the 8.4MW turbines, which will power the wind farms, will be installed on the foundations. Before the end of next year, the SeaMade project is estimated to generate enough clean energy to power 500,000 Belgian households.
SeaMade CEO Mathias Verkest said: “We are proud that SeaMade brings the Belgian offshore wind capacity to 2,262 MW by 2020, exactly as has been anticipated by the Belgian federal government. This capacity will produce more than 8 TWh annually, which is approximately 10% of total electricity demand and 50% of the total household consumption.
“Even with the limited surface of the Belgian North Sea, Belgium is the fifth producer of offshore wind worldwide. Beyond 2020, the offshore wind energy capacity in the Belgian North Sea can be further developed and doubled to at least 4,000 MW. We trust solutions will be found allowing an adequate and timely grid connection for this second round.”
In December last year, Deme was selected by SeaMade Offshore Wind Farm to provide installation services for foundations, turbines, offshore substations and inter-array- and export cables.