Nobelwind signs Jan De Nul for new wind power plant in Belgian North Sea

Jan De Nul signed a new contract with Nobelwind to engineer, procure, construct and install (EPCI) 165MW offshore wind farm off the coast of Zeebrugge in Belgium.

It is the first offshore wind contract for Jan De Nul’s newly acquired offshore jack-up heavy lift vessel Vidar.

The project covers 51 monopile foundations and the offshore high voltage substation along with installation of 50 Vestas 3.3MW wind turbines, which includes supply and installation of scour protection.

Jan De Nul Group offshore wind manager Peter De Pooter said: "Jan De Nul Group will execute the design, fabrication and installation of the 50 wind energy generators, inclusive foundation for the OHVS.

"The steel foundations will be fabricated in Germany and Vietnam under strict quality control by our specialist inspectors.

"The newly acquired Vidar will install the 51 foundations working from the marshalling harbour in Ostend and the fall pipe vessel Simon Stevin will place scour protection on the sea bed around the piles. Finally the Vidar will transport the turbines and blades from Denmark to install them up to 100 m high onto the foundations."

The plant work will start in 2016 and it will be connected to the Belgian grid through an export cable that Jan De Nul installed in 2013.

The firm has been increasingly involved in the offshore projects. Apart from Vidar it has invested in other specialised offshore multipurpose vessels, of which the cable laying, trenching and rock installation with one and the same vessel Issac Newton was launched earlier this year.

---

Image: Jan De Nul Group and Nobelwind sign EPCI contract for the construction of a wind power plant in the Belgian North Sea. Photo courtesy by Jan De Nul Group