Parkwind and Jan De Nul build the world's largest wind turbines off the Belgian coast

Jan De Nul Group signs contract for constructing Northwester 2, the seventh wind farm off the Belgian coast, entering for the third time into a partnership with wind farm developer Parkwind, a branch establishment of Colruyt. Jan De Nul will be responsible for the design, construction and installation of 23 foundations, the transportation and installation of the cables and the transportation and installation of the wind turbines on top of the foundations.

Jan De Nul Group invests considerable resources in the offshore wind industry and offers the market a reliable solution for pioneering projects. “For the third time, we join forces with Parkwind”, says Peter De Pooter, Manager Offshore Renewables with Jan De Nul Group. “Needless to say that we are very pleased with Parkwind’s confidence in our expertise.” Stan Logghe, project manager of Jan De Nul for Northwester 2, continues: “With this project, we will have the honour of being the first marine engineering company to build the world's largest offshore wind turbines at sea, a great milestone, not only for us but also for the offshore wind industry."

The Northwester 2 wind farm is located 48 kilometres off the coast and will have the largest and most powerful wind turbines currently available on the market: the V164-9.5MW, with a rotor diameter of 164 metres.

Jan De Nul Group will kick off the works in June 2019. It is an EPCI-contract, in which Jan De Nul will design the foundations and will be responsible for the purchase and installation of the foundations and for installing the cables and wind turbines.

Peter Caluwaerts, Project Director of Parkwind for the Northwester 2 Project: “The Northwester 2 offshore wind farm will be fully operational by 2020 and will produce enough green electricity for 220,000 households.”

Earlier wind farm projects of Jan De Nul Group

In Europe, Jan De Nul Group has already executed several offshore wind farm projects in Belgium, England, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany. In Belgium, Jan De Nul Group built – also for Parkwind – the Bligh Bank Phase 2 wind farm, better known as Nobelwind, an offshore wind farm with 50 3.3MW wind turbines and 1 offshore substation.

Earlier this year, Jan De Nul Group entered as the first European company the Asian offshore wind farm market, signing contracts for two major offshore wind farm projects in Taiwan: the Formosa 1 Phase 2 OWF project for Formosa Wind Power Co. and the Changhua OWF project commissioned by Taiwan Power Company. As such, Jan De Nul Group is a pioneer in exporting the wind farm expertise from the Low Countries outside Europe.