STX France has loaded a substation topside built for the Rentel offshore wind farm onto a barge in the Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port in France.
The 1,200 tonne topside is expected to sail out to the installation site in the Belgian North Sea next week, weather permitting.
STX France won the EPCI contract for the offshore substation at the beginning of 2016. The contract included the design, fabrication, transport, offshore installation and commissioning of a monopile foundation and the topside, including high voltage and ancillary equipment.
The 1,600 tonne foundation was installed in September 2017.
The 309MW Rentel offshore wind farm will comprise 42 Siemens D7 type wind turbines, each with an individual installed capacity of 7.35MW.
The first power is scheduled to be delivered to the Belgian grid by mid-2018, with the entire wind farm planned to become fully operational by the end of 2018.