Rentel NV will start the transport of the offshore transformer substation topside built for the 309MW Rentel offshore wind farm from the assembly yard in Saint-Nazaire, France to the installation site in the Belgian North Sea on 12 January.
The offshore transformer substation topside was loaded onto a barge in the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port last week. It consists of a large steel building with four deck levels, weighs 1,100 tonnes and is designed to endure the extreme weather conditions in the North Sea.
The installation of the offshore transformer substation is expected to be completed in spring 2018, Rentel said.
“The substation is the beating heart of our wind farm. It transforms the produced wind energy to 220 kV high voltage and conducts the electricity to the mainland, so we can deliver our Belgian green energy to consumers,” said Rentel’s CEO Nathalie Oosterlinck.
The Rentel offshore wind farm will comprise 42 Siemens D7 type wind turbines, each with an individual installed capacity of 7.35MW.
First power is scheduled to be delivered to the Belgian grid by mid-2018, with the entire wind farm planned to become fully operational by the end of 2018.