Belgium's largest offshore wind farm, the 487MW SeaMade that can power 500,000 Belgian households, has now been officially inaugurated.
The news of the inauguration was shared Wednesday by Ocean Winds, a joint venture created by EDP Renewables and ENGIE (50:50), and a project partner.
SeaMade was developed by a consortium of Otary, Ocean Winds, and Eneco. It is managed by Otary.
The offshore wind farm inauguration took place in the presence of the board of directors and its shareholders, investors, (sub)contractors and the SeaMade project team. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the North Sea Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister of Energy Tinne Van der Straeten, and Ostend Mayor Bart Tommelein were also present at the inauguration.
SeaMade has been operational since the end of 2020. It consists of 58 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 487MW that generate 1.8 TWh of renewable energy annually.
SeaMade NV is responsible for the simultaneous development of both the Mermaid and Seastar offshore wind farms, resulting in the largest wind farm ever financed and built in Belgium. Mermaid is the furthest zone in the Belgian North Sea, about 50km from the Ostend coastline. Via export cables in the seabed, the electricity from the sea is linked to Elia's offshore transmission grid and then brought ashore.
Wouter Vandekerkhove Deputy CEO of SeaMade and Country Manager for Ocean Winds said: “SeaMade, the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium, has been created thanks to the collaboration and expertise of various partners and we are pleased that as part of the project team we have contributed to the development, realization and now the operation of this important wind farm in our North Sea.”
“Ocean Winds, together with ENGIE Electrabel, wants to play a pioneering role in the energy transition in Belgium, in which offshore wind energy plays a very important role. Our ambition is to have 1000 megawatts at sea by 2030, also in consortia such as this one.”