REBO NV and Siemens Wind Power have signed a concession agreement for a one-year use of the Port of the Ostend facilities for the pre-assembly of 42 wind turbines that will be installed at Belgian Rentel offshore wind farm.
Different parts of the wind turbines, including blades, nacelles and tower elements, will be pre-assembled and prepared at the REBO terminal prior to being loaded onto an installation vessel and taken to the offshore construction site for installation.
The supply and pre-assembly of the wind turbines will start in early 2018, and will last for a full year. In 2019, Siemens team will set up the operations and maintenance (O&M) base in Oostende, which will be operational for at least 17 years.
In December 2016, Rentel NV has placed an order with Siemens for the 309MW wind project, after reaching the financial close in October.
The wind farm will comprise of 42 Siemens D7 type wind turbines each with an individual installed capacity of 7.35 MW, installed on monopile foundations approximately 34km off the coast of Zeebrugge. Sif and Smulders will deliver the wind turbine foundations .
The Rentel offshore wind site is located about 40 kilometers off the Belgian North Sea coast.
The first turbines are expected to deliver power to the Belgian grid by mid-2018, while the entire offshore project is planned to become fully operational by the end of 2018.