Start of Northwester 2 construction
Jan de Nul will deploy its installation vessel Vole au Vent for the monopile foundations (Source: Jan de Nul)
Construction works for the seventh offshore wind farm off the Belgian coast have started. Jan de Nul, who had been contracted for fabrication and installation of foundations and wind turbine installation, has commenced with preparation works for the 219 MW offshore wind farm Northwester 2. Contracting partner is Belgian wind park developer Parkwind.
The Northwester 2 wind farm will comprise 23 V164-9.5MW MHI Vestas offshore wind turbines and will be the first project to install this model. The turbines on monopile foundations will link through an offshore high-voltage station to an Offshore Switch Yard (OSY) developed by Belgium’s transmission system operator ELIA. As of 2020, the Northwester 2 wind farm will power approximately 220,000 households in Belgium.
The Northwester 2 project will introduce a new design for the external access platforms on the foundations: the box platform. The platform has an innovative design that consists only of steel plate material, developed and patented by Parkwind.
At each location of the wind turbines, Jan De Nul Group’s subsea rock installation vessel Simon Stevin installed a 32m-diameter-wide and 700mm-thick rock layer to stabilise the seabed around the foundation. The monopile foundations for the wind turbines will be hammered directly through the rock layer into the seabed.
