Belgium – SeaMade offshore wind farm at the Ostend Hippodrome was officially inaugurated.
SeaMade is Otary’s second wind farm, built in collaboration with Eneco and Ocean Winds, a 50:50 joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE specializing in offshore wind power generation.
Since the end of 2020, SeaMade has been in operation. The offshore wind farm was completed on schedule and on budget. SeaMade is made up of 58 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 487MW that generate 1.8 TWh of renewable energy each year, enough to power 500,000 Belgian households. SeaMade NV is in charge of the concurrent development of the Mermaid and Seastar offshore wind farms, which resulted in the largest wind farm ever financed and built in Belgium. Mermaid is the furthest zone in the Belgian North Sea, located around 50 kilometres off the shore of Ostend. The electricity from the water is connected to Elia’s offshore transmission grid and then transported ashore by export cables in the seabed.
Energy supply from renewables
SeaMade is making a significant contribution to the binding aim of obtaining 13% of the energy from renewable sources by 2020. Offshore wind energy accounts for half of renewable energy output, accounting for a quarter of the SeaMade project’s required offshore energy production. Offshore wind energy has contributed for no less than 10% of total Belgian power consumption since the end of 2020, following the commissioning of the last offshore wind turbines in the North Sea.
Offshore wind has emerged as a critical actor in the energy scene, with a capacity that has the potential to double or quadruple in the next ten years. It is also critical to build a long-term vision for the integration of sustainable energy sources in order to achieve a successful energy transition.
