Turbine installation under way at SeaMade offshore Belgium

DEME Offshore’s Apollo has installed the first of 58 turbines at Otary’s SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea.

The Apollo loaded the first wind turbine components at the Renewable Energy Base Ostend, which is used as the marshalling harbour for the pre-assembly of the 58 Siemens Gamesa 8.4-MW turbines.

From Ostend, the Apollo will transport the tower elements, nacelles and blades, with a total weight of 1,000 metric tons (1,102 tons) each, for installation at the SeaMade site which is about 45 km (28 miles) off the Belgian coast.

The DP-2 installation vessel features an 800-metric ton (882-ton), leg-encircling crane and an unobstructed, 2,000-square metre deck (21,528-square feet) deck with a load carrying capacity of 15 t/square metres.

Michael Glavind, business unit director of DEME Offshore, said this is the Apollo’s first turbine installation project.

Offshore construction of the SeaMade wind farm started in September 2019, with the last foundation installed in January 2020 and in the meantime connected by the subsea cables.

With a 487 MW capacity, SeaMade is the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium. It is expected to be operational by the end of the year and power 485,000 households.

Otary CEO Mathias Verkest said the company’s combined projects “are a major contributor to Belgium’s ongoing climate goals and efforts, contributing more than one-third of the overall offshore production capacity which covers half of the 2020 renewable energy targets.”

Source: Offshore Magazine