NSW, a unit of Prysmian Group, has received a contract from Northwester to develop submarine inter-array power cable system for the 219MW Northwester 2 offshore wind farm located in the Belgian North Sea.
Image: The Northwester 2 offshore wind farm will be built in Belgian waters. Photo: courtesy of Parkwind.
Under the contract, NSW will be responsible for the designing, production and delivery of 25km of 33kV submarine power cables for the inter-array cabling of the wind farm.
NSW, which will also provide pre-operation cable termination and testing, plans to deliver submarine cables for the project in summer 2019.
Located approximately 50km north-west of Oostende off the Belgian coast, the project is being developed by Parkwind. It will feature 23 MHI Vestas Offshore Wind 164-9.5MW turbines.
The Northwester 2 offshore wind farm will generate clean electricity to power more than 220,000 homes.
Prysmian Group projects business executive vice-president Hakan Ozmen said: “This is a clear indication of how NSW’s experience and know-how in submarine and offshore cable systems can further strengthen Prysmian Group leadership in the offshore wind market, leveraging also on a wider portfolio of products, technologies and assets.”
The project is expected to create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs during the construction phase and 100 long-term jobs for operations and maintenance.
Planned to be commissioned in 2020, the wind farm is expected to contribute to Belgium’s aim to double offshore wind capacity in its territorial waters to up to 4GW by 2025.
Earlier this year, Jan De Nul Group won an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract from Parkwind for the Northwester 2 wind farm.
Jan De Nul Group will be responsible for the design, construction and installation of 23 foundations, and the transportation and installation of the cables, along with the transportation and installation of the wind turbines on top of the foundations.
Weighing 35 tons, each blade of the V164-9.5MW turbine to be installed at the Belgian offshore wind farm will be 80m long. The turbines’ hub height will be around 105m and the approximate tip height will be 187m.