Project name: Belwind 

Location: 46 kilometre off the coast of Zeebrugge, on the Bligh Bank. It is outside any shipping lanes and outside the 12 mile one. This means Belwind is in international waters in the Belgian Economic Zone (BEZ), in a dedicated zone for the development of wind farms.

Capacity: 165 MW (55 wind turbines of 3 MW)

Foundation:

Type: steel monopile/transition piece

Supplier: Van Oord via EEW (Germany) / Bladt (Denmark)

Design: Van Oord via Ramboll

Installer: Van Oord via Ballast Nedam (the Netherlands)

Diameter: 5 m

Weight monopile: 300 – 550 t

Length monopile: 50 – 72 m

Weight of the transition piece: 120 t

Length of the transition piece: 25 m, 17 m above sea level

Turbines:

Type: V90-3 MW-Offshore

Supplier: Vestas (Denmark - Belgium)

Installer: Vestas

Distance between the turbines: 500 m – 650 m

Rotor diameter: 90 m

Swept rotor area: 6,400 m²

Hub height: 72 m above sea level 

Offshore High Voltage Station:

Supplier: THV Seawind & THV BOSS (Belgium)

Weight: 1,100 tonnes

Make topside: Fabricom GDF Suez & Iemants Staalbouw (Belgium)

Number of decks: 5 levels van 375 m²

Make of Main Transformer: CG Holdings (ex-Pauwels Trafo) (Belgium)

Delivery HV Equipment (Siemens): CG holdings

Size of Main transformer: 185 MVA c/w OLTC

Rating of Main Transformer: 200 MVA, 33kV / 150kV (+/- 1.7 %)

Weight of Main Transformer: 151.5 tonnes 

Onshore High Voltage Station:

Make: Fabricom GDF Suez (Belgium)

Make Booster Transformer: CG Holdings (Belgium)

Weight of Booster Transformer: 135 tonnes

Rating of Booster Transformer: 185 MVA, 150 kV

Delivery HV Equipment (ABB): CG Holdings (Belgium)

Export cables:

Length of land cable: 3 km

Make of land cable: NKT

Installation of land cable: THV Seawind (Belgium)

Land cable rating: 3 x 1 x 1200 AL, 87/150 kV

Length of sea cable: 52 km

Supplier: Nexans

Installation: Nexans

Cable rating: 3 x 1 x 630/500 mm² CU, 170 kV

 Infield cables: infra-turbine cables

Length: 55 individual lengths of 33 kV-cables (total 50 km)

Supplier: Parker Scanrope

Installation: Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors

Sea depth: 15 to 37 metres 

Distance from shore: 46 km-52 km

Wind farm area: Phase I: 17 km², phase II: 18 km²

Owner: Belwind NV

Financiers: A consortium of Banks, managed by Dexia (senior) and Rabo Bank (mezzanine), and consisting of EIB, EKF, ASN, Dexia, Rabo.

Contractors:

- Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors: design, supply and installation of foundations, off and onshore high-voltage station and cable network, marine operations.

- Vestas: design, supply and installation of turbines, marine operations

Insurance: Portfolio developed by Profin adviseurs & Marsh, insured by Delta Lloyd.

Production: 0.55 TWh a year (phase I), 1.05 TWh for phases I & II

Saved CO2 emissions: 270,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year (phase I) and 540,000 tonnes (phase I & II)

Equivalent to: 175,000 households (phase I) and 350,000 households (phase I & II)

Lifetime: Belwind is seeking to generate a maximum amount of wind energy during a period of 20 years and feed this into the Belgian onshore power grid. A maximum extension by (only) 10 years is possible.

Investment: EUR 614 million (phase I)

Unique aspects of the project: In 2009, Belwind is the furthest located offshore wind farm (46 km) in the deepest water (up to 37 m). It was developed in just 3.5 years and built in 15 months. It is also the largest wind farm to be financed on a non-recourse basis.