MHI Vestas and Parkwind have united to create the first offshore wind farm using the V164-9.5 MW, a record-beating wind turbine! 23 of these wind turbines will be installed off the coast of Ostend. The first one has already been installed!
This constitutes the world's very first installation of a commercial wind turbine with a power generation capacity surpassing 9 MW. The total power generation capacity of this wind farm will be 219 MW!
Northwester 2, in the North Sea, will soon be able to respond to the electricity needs of 220,000 families in Belgium, which corresponds to 9,500 households per wind turbine. All using a clean energy source!
The project will also have a positive impact on employment. It will directly and indirectly create more than 1,000 jobs throughout the construction phase. Around 100 long-term jobs will also be created for the maintenance and operation of the site.
The project will be up and running during the first half of 2020. Such swift action has been made possible through a highly collaborative approach, a planned supply chain and the industrialisation of offshore wind farms in Belgium.
It also corresponds to the government's goal of doubling its offshore wind energy capacity in Belgian territorial waters to reach 4 GW by 2030, in response to the commitments Belgium has made on the European level and within the framework of the Paris Agreement.
Energy supplies from offshore windfarms reached a new record high in 2019, producing enough energy for 1.34 million households and making Belgium one of the leading countries for wind energy production.