Offshore wind farms developer Parkwind has announced that the 219MW Northwester 2 wind farm has begun supplying clean energy to the Belgian grid.
Work on the offshore wind farm was completed in ten months.
Parkwind holds a 70% stake in Northwester 2, while Sumitomo Corporation holds the remaining 30%.
Parkwind project director Peter Caluwaerts said: “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.”
It is claimed to be the seventh wind farm in the Belgian North Sea, which takes the total offshore energy capacity to 1,776MW and moves the country closer to achieving its goal of meeting 10% of energy demand with offshore wind by the end of this year.
The wind farm is located at a water depth of approximately 40m and is equipped with 23 wind turbines, each producing 9.5MW of clean energy.
With the completion of Northwester 2, Parkwind intends to focus on the development of other projects including Arcadis Ost 1, which is located in Germany and Oriel in Ireland.
Once completed, these two wind facilities are expected to add 577MW of additional capacity to Parkwind’s portfolio.
Currently, the company is also reviewing other opportunities in Europe, Asia and North America.
Last month, Parkwind and Bladt signed an agreement for the design, fabrication and installation of the Arcadis Ost 1 substation, situated in the German Baltic Sea 19km off Ruger’s island.
The platform is a joint project between the two companies and will be operated alongside German Transmission System Operator (TSO) 50 Hertz.
