The assembly of the wind turbine towers for the 309MW Rentel offshore wind farm has started at the Port of Ostend in Belgium, Otary Group, the owner and developer of the project, said.
The assembly of the three tower parts into one complete tower is being carried out using a special 8-pack tower stand which was built on the load-out quay of the REBO site.
The 87-metre towers will support 42 Siemens Gamesa D7-type turbines, each with an individual capacity of 7.35MW, installed in the Belgian North Sea.
The first nacelles arrived onboard the roll on/roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel Rotra Vente from Siemens Gamesa’s factory in Cuxhaven, Germany to Ostend in late March. The first tower components and blade sets came from Esbjerg to Ostend onboard the Ro-Ro vessel Rotra Mare mid-February.
In the following weeks, Siemens Gamesa will deliver all of the turbine components to Ostend, which will then be pre-assembled and installed from the recently opened facility in the Ostend harbour. The wind farm will also be serviced from the Port of Ostend.
The first turbines are scheduled to be installed by A2SEA’s Sea Installer in May, and the first power is expected by mid-2018. The wind farm is slated for full commissioning by the end of 2018.