The final installation of turbines at Parkwind's Northwester 2 offshore wind farm in the Belgium section of the North Sea has been completed.

Parkwind completed the final installation of turbines at the Northwester 2 offshore wind farm in a joint operation with MHI Vestas and Jan De Nul Group.

The 219 MW Northwester 2 project in Belgium has now seen all 23 turbines fully installed.

The offshore wind project, located around 50km off the shore of Ostend, Belgium, is the first project to use the V164-9.5 MW turbines in commercial operation.

 

"The installation works started in December 2019. Following a good start, exceptionally adverse weather in the first months slowed the pace of the installation works down. To accelerate operations, a second installation vessel, the Scylla, was brought in mid-March to operate in parallel with Jan De Nul’s Vole au vent. All parties have closely worked together in a professional manner to overcome challenges and succeeded to maintain operational control until completion of the last WTG installation," Parkwind said.

Peter Caluwaerts, Parkwind’s Project Director said: “Upon securing a second installation vessel to make up for the time lost in the first months of the year, the COVID-19 crisis broke out threatening to undo all our efforts. However, the extraordinary dedication we witnessed from the different teams, in the midst of an unprecedented context and with all additional safety measures, has been humbling. We are grateful to all our stakeholders who have supported us in reaching this stage. We now confidently look towards the completion of our wind farm.”

Flemming Ougaard, MHI Vestas Chief Operations Officer noted: “We are pleased to have completed installation at Northwester 2, particularly during this challenging time related to COVID-19. The V164-9.5 MW turbines we have utilized at this project are built on proven technology, and will reliably support this project for decades.”

Stan Logghe, Senior Project Manager Northwester 2 at Jan De Nul Group said: “A challenging project has now successfully been completed. We are proud of the team achievements, involving the foundation design and procurement as well as the installation works of these foundations, all cables and all WTG’s of the Northwester 2 windfarm.”  

MHI Vestas holds a 15-year service agreement at Northwester 2, to maintain the V164-9.5 MW turbines.