Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has been chosen as the wind turbine supplier for the Seastar and the Mermaid offshore wind projects in the Belgian North Sea.
Subject to completion of the ongoing negotiations and regulatory approvals, the Mermaid and Seastar projects will comprise 58 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, with a rotor diameter of 167m, on monopile foundations and two offshore substations connected to ELIA’s Modular Offshore Grid.
”After intensive discussions with multiple suppliers to bring the competitiveness of their bids at a level compatible with the strongly reduced support levels, it was decided to collaborate with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy as wind turbine supplier for the Mermaid and Seastar projects, with a predominant role for Ostend as offshore hub,” Otary, the developer of the two projects, said in a statement.
Parties will continue their contract negotiations with the aim to reach an agreement on the terms and conditions of a Turbine Supply Contract and a long-term Service and Maintenance contract before the summer of 2018.
The wind turbines are expected to produce green energy as from 2020.
”We are pleased to do this announcement as this will trigger a sequence of events that will eventually lead up to the construction of two offshore wind farms with a total capacity of ca. 500 MW. In order to reach project completion by 2020 the support mechanism announced by the government still has to be transposed into legislation, but we are confident the Belgian government will do its utmost to make this happen in the next weeks based on the principles agreed in October 2017,” Mathias Verkest CEO of Mermaid THV, said.