The 487MW SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea has reached financial close.
SeaMade includes the construction of two offshore wind farms, the merged 235MW Mermaid and 252MW Seastar, some 35km and 50km off the coast.
The project is financed by an international lending consortium consisting of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Danish Export Credit Agency (EKF) and 15 commercial banks.
“We are pleased that our project milestones are achieved in time through tremendous efforts of many as we are working on a quite ambitious timing towards 2020,” said Mathias Verkest , CEO at SeaMade.
“The SeaMade financing, provided by an international lending consortium consisting of the European Investment Bank, the Danish export credit agency EKF and 15 commercial banks, successfully concludes the government’s ambition of developing about 2,200 MW of offshore energy. Offshore energy is becoming more and more predominant in the Belgian energy mix providing clean energy to 50% of the household consumption in Belgium on an annual basis.”
The 487MW wind farm will feature a total of 58 Siemens Gamesa turbines, with a rotor diameter of 167m, on monopile foundations and two offshore substations connected to ELIA’s Modular Offshore Grid.
Construction will start in summer of 2019, while the commissioning is scheduled to take place before the end of 2020.
Seamade NV, a joint venture between Otary (70%), Electrabel (17.5%), and Eneco Wind Belgium SA (12.5%) is the project developer.