Following maritime infrastructure contractor Jan De Nul Group's acquisition of the Vidar installation vessel earlier this month, the Group signed an offshore wind turbine contract with Nobelwind on 15 September 2015.

The Engineering Procurement Construction and Installation (EPCI) project will see the design, procurement, construction and installation of 51 foundations for 50 wind turbines and an offshore high voltage substation (OHVS); the supply and installation of riprap to protect against erosion; and the installation of 50 wind turbine generators.

This new Nobelwind offshore wind farm will be establisher 46km from the coast of Zeebrugge and will include 50 Vestas wind turbines of 3.3 MW each, 165 MW in total. The wind farm will be connected via an export cable installed by Jan de Nul Group in 2013 to the Belgian electricity grid, powering some 197,000 families with green electricity.

"Jan De Nul Group will execute the design, construction and installation of 50 wind power generators, including foundations for OHVS," explained Peter De Pooter, Offshore Renewables Manager at Jan De Nul Group. "The steel pile foundations are built in Germany and Vietnam under our own quality control. The recontly acquired Vidar then installs the 51 foundations from Ostend and the Simon Stevin spill pipe vessel will place riprap around the foundations to protect against erosion. In the last phase, Vidar will remove turbines and rotors in Denmark and install them up to 100 metres above the foundations".

This partnership represents the first contract for the newly-acquired Vidar installation vessel, with Peter De Pooter commenting: "With this first project we are confirming our expertise in this area".

"Nobelwind is pleased that a large company like Jan De Nul has won this highly competitive market and is confident in the fact that Jan De Nul will manage quite a few essential parts of the construction phase," continued Frank Coenen, Project Director at Nobelwind.

Work on the project will begin in April 2016 and will be completed sometime in 2017.

 

Photo by Jan De Nul Group