The first of two offshore substations for the SeaMade offshore wind farm has left Engie Fabricom’s construction yard in Hoboken and is on its way towards the project site in the Belgian North Sea.
The 487MW SeaMade wind farm is a combination of the 235MW Mermaid and the 252MW Seastar offshore wind projects.
The 1,200t topside, which has four decks and is 14m tall, is on its way towards the Mermaid concession for installation.
The two substations will collect the electricity produced by the 58 Siemens Gamesa 8.4MW turbines, convert it from 33kV to 220kV, and export it into the grid via Elia’s Modular Offshore Grid .
DEME Offshore, Engie, Tractebel and Smulders are responsible for the full engineering, procurement, construction, transport, installation, and commissioning of the two offshore high voltage substations.
The full commissioning of the wind farm is expected by the end of 2020.
“It is really exciting to witness the load-out of this massive 1,200 tonne steel construction at the Fabricom assembly yard,” said Mathias Verkest , CEO SeaMade Offshore Wind Farm.
“We are happy that the first out of two offshore substations is heading to the Mermaid concession area and are grateful for the tremendous hours of work spent by the combined teams to bring this to a success.”