World’s 1st Offshore Farm to use 9.5 MW Turbines Comes Online

The 219 MW Northwester 2 offshore wind farm is now supplying the Belgian grid with green energy from all of its 23 fully wind turbines producing 9.5 MW each.

In just under ten months from the start of the offshore works, the 219 MW Northwester 2 offshore wind farm is now supplying the Belgian grid with green energy from all of its 23 fully operational wind turbines producing 9.5 MW each. This wind farm is the first to use the world’s highest-rated Siemens Gamesa V164-9.5 MW turbines in commercial operation.

This is the seventh wind farm in the Belgian North Sea, which now brings the total offshore energy capacity to 1,776 MW and moves Belgium closer to reaching the goal of supplying 10 percent of energy demand with offshore wind by the end of 2020.

“As we started the offshore construction of our fourth wind farm back in July last year, we could not have imagined the circumstances under which we would be completing this project. Following the powerful storms over the winter that caused some temporary disruption, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to deal with an unprecedented level of uncertainty. We managed to keep the project on track though. Following an excellent dialogue with the Belgian government and a great collaboration with our contractors, all operating procedures were re-designed to continue the construction works, ensuring the health and safety of all people involved and safeguarding their safe return home during this COVID-19 pandemic. Today we can proudly say ‘we did it’,” said Peter Caluwaerts, Parkwind’s Project Director.

The project is a 219 MW wind farm, approximately 51 km offshore in the Belgian territorial waters. Current shareholders are Parkwind (70 percent) and the Japanese industrial group Sumitomo Corporation (30 percent). Parkwind has been in charge of development and construction.

Recently, we had reported that every one of the 102 turbines on the 714 MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm had been successfully installed. The wind farm is already making a substantial contribution to the production of green energy, with commissioning still underway. Once fully operational, it will produce 714 MW of clean energy annually – enough to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes.

East Anglia ONE, a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, is a £2.5 billion project and the first of four offshore wind farms the former is developing in the region.