Turbine installation begins on Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm

DEME Offshore has installed the first turbine at the SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea.

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.

DEME’s DP2 offshore installation vessel Apollo has commenced installation of 58 Siemens Gamesa 8.4MW turbines on the monopile foundations.

Apollo loaded the first wind turbine components at the Renewable Energy Base Ostend (REBO), which is used as the marshalling harbour for the pre-assembly of the 58 turbines. From Ostend, the vessel will transport the tower elements, nacelles, and blades, with a total weight of 1,000 tonnes each, for installation at the SeaMade site which is about 45 kilometres off the Belgian coast.

With a 487MW capacity, SeaMade will be the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium once it becomes operational.