PRESS RELEASE – DEME has successfully installed the two substations for the SeaMade offshore wind farm in the Belgian North Sea, marking a major milestone in the construction of Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm.

Each weighing 1,200 tonnes, the substations are the beating heart of the offshore wind farm, DEME states. They transform the wind energy that is produced to 225 kV, which in turn allows the electricity to be brought to shore via Elia’s Modular Offshore Grid (MOG). The export cable transmitting the electricity to shore has been installed earlier with DEME’s cable installation vessel Living Stone.

The installation of the substations was executed with heavy lift vessel ‘Gulliver’, operated by DEME’s subsidiary Scaldis which is specialised in marine heavy lifting works. Earlier DEME’s offshore installation vessel ‘Innovation’ installed all of the foundations, including those for the two substations.

“I am thrilled to see this oversized mecano being put together, bringing us closer step by step to the start of green energy production for 485.000 households as from autumn this year”, comments Mathias Verkest CEO SeaMade offshore wind farm.

The installation of the 58 turbines will begin in spring, for which DEME will deploy its offshore installation vessel Apollo. This will be the first turbine installation project for the new vessel, which was inaugurated in February last year.

In April cable installation vessel Living Stone will start the installation of the inter-array cables.