Alstom and Belgian developer, Belwind, have signed an agreement of cooperation to install, connect to the grid, operate and maintain one Haliade 150 6MW wind turbine at the Belwind wind farm, which will comprise 55 wind turbines.
It is the furthest offshore wind farm in the North Sea (45km off the coast at Ostend) and has the deepest foundations on the seabed- constructed with ready-made 5 metre diameter monopiles up to 72 metres in length. Instead of transporting these 300 to 550 ton monopiles by ship to the wind farm, they were flooated and towed their by tug. Because the tugs will only go out to sea when the waves are less than 1 metre high and it takes about 6 hours to get to the Bligh Bank, it’s been a long process.
Because of the exceptional dimensions of the new 6MW offshore wind turbine, Alstom used the latest generation of liftboats for trasnportation. With the turbine’s 73.5m long blades, the rotor has a diameter of 150m. That means that the diameter of the Haliade wind turbine’s rotor is 150m – one of the largest ever built. The nacelle weighs around 400 tonnes and the total weight of the Haliade 150, its jacket foundation and the mast is 1,500 tonnes. The turbine is adapted to sites where the wind reference speed is 50 m/s and with gusts which could reach 70 m/s. The latter being the highest gust measured in that area of the North Sea in the past 50 years.
Frank Coenen, CEO of Belwind, said:
“Innovations such Alstom’s new Haliade 150 are essential for the future of offshore wind energy generation. More than 90% of offshore wind energy is currently generated in northern Europe, in the North Sea, the Baltic and Irish Seas and the English Channel. We have been a major player in this arena, particularly in the harsh conditions of the North Sea and we are keen to share our expertise with other players to accelerate the development of knowledge and technology towards the achievement of Europe’s binding target to source 20% of final energy consumption from renewables by 2020.”
