The first Siemens Gamesa turbine components have arrived at the Rebo terminal in Ostend for Otary’s 309MW Rentel offshore wind farm off the coast of Belgium.
Two sets of blades and six top towers have arrived at the terminal, which is being used for pre-assembly for the wind farm.
Further components, including nacelles, for the first 12 of 42 machines are planned to arrive in the coming weeks, the developer said.
The blades for the 7MW 154 turbines are being delivered from Aalborg and Esbjerg, which is also supplying some of the towers. More towers will come from Vietnam, with the nacelles arriving from Cuxhaven.
Work is ongoing at Rebo for the load-in, pre-assembly and load out on A2Sea’s Sea Installer vessel.
A special eight-pack tower stand has been built on the load-out quay to assist with the work.
Shipping of nacelles, blades and towers to Ostend will continue until mid-summer 2018.
Turbine installation will start in early May and is scheduled for completion in September.
The developer said turbines will be installed in a five lift sequence, which aims to install each structure in less than 24 hours. Each turbine is planned to be commissioned the next day.
The wind farm is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.
Rentel chief executive Nathalie Oosterlinck said: “This is the start of last part of the Rentel project. After successful and timely installation of the foundations, the infield and export cables and the installation of the offshore substation, we set in for the final straight line, the installation of the wind turbines.”
Image: Siemens Gamesa
Rentel kit lines up in Ostend
By EBS