SeaMade is the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium, having a 487 MW capacity. It consists of a combination of two offshore wind projects, previously known as Mermaid (235 MW) and Seastar (252 MW). DEME will install the 58 foundations and all inter-array cables, two offshore substations and the 220 kV submarine high voltage cable. The 8.4 MW turbines will be installed on the foundations in Spring 2020 and the offshore wind farm is expected to supply renewable energy to 500,000 households in Belgium sometime during the same year.
“After months of careful planning and engineering, it is great to kick-off the offshore works at the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium” said Luc Vandenbulcke, CEO of DEME. “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.”
Mathias Verkest, CEO at SeaMade, added that SeaMade will bring Belgian offshore wind capacity to 2,262 MW by 2020 and that this will produce more than 8 TWh annually, being approximately 10 percent of the country’s total electricity demand and 50 percent of its 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.
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