Moving a 1200 tonne substation by sea

The 1,200 tonne substation has four decks, is 14 metres high and has an output capacity of 235MW.

With a 487MW capacity SeaMade is the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium. SeaMade originates from the merger of two offshore wind projects, previously known as Mermaid (235MW) and Seastar (252MW).

After a successful collaboration on previous offshore wind farm projects, ENGIE Fabricom, Tractebel, Smulders and DEME Offshore joined forces for the full EPCI scope (engineering, procurement, construction, transport, installation and commissioning) of SeaMade’s high voltage substations.

The partners have a strong track record in offering integrated solutions to the global offshore wind industry.

The high voltage substation transforms the wind energy that is produced to 225kV, which in turn allows the electricity to transfer to shore via Elia’s Modular Offshore Grid (MOG).

Mathias Verkest, CEO SeaMade Offshore Wind Farm comments: “It is really exciting to witness the load-out of this massive 1,200 tonne steel construction at the Fabricom assembly yard. We are happy that the first out of two offshore substations is heading to the Mermaid concession area and are grateful for the tremendous hours of work spent by the combined teams to bring this to a success.”

By Jake Frith