Van Oord Goes 5G on Norther

Van Oord will use nCentric’s 5G offshore wireless network together with nCentric Nova nodes for its cable lay operations at the Norther offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea.

The works will be carried out with a total of 11 to 17 vessels equipped with the technology obtaining high-speed Internet on board for a fraction of the standard VSAT cost, nCentric said.

In cooperation with sister company Citymesh, the network operator is realizing full-blown 5G internet connectivity in the Belgian North Sea, which is expected to decrease communication costs.

According to nCentric, the rollout is being done in several phases, starting with the installation of three network stations offshore, followed by four systems onshore, enabling the full 5G coverage in the entire Belgian North Sea.

The first phase of this multi-million Euro project has been put into operation in February, the company said.

Van Oord, the Balance of Plant contractor for the project, is in charge of the engineering, procurement, supply and installation of foundations, the Offshore High Voltage Station (OHVS), inter-array and export cables, as well as the installation of the turbines.

The 370MW Norther offshore wind farm will feature 44 MHI Vestas V164-8.0 MW turbines optimized to be able to deliver a maximum output of 8.4MW. Once commissioned in 2019, Norther will be Belgium’s largest wind farm.