Nexans Wins Offshore Power Cable Contract
Nexans has won a contract worth approximately EUR 39 million to supply the subsea power export cables for phase I of the Belgian Belwind Offshore Windfarm project, located on the Bligh Bank, 46 km off the coast of Zeebrugge. On project completion, Nexans’ cable technology will transmit environmentally friendly power to some 165,000 households in Belgium. Belwind NV is owned by Colruyt, Rabobank Project Equity, SHV, Meewind and Participatie Maatschappij Vlaanderen.
Nexans will supply and install 52 km of 170 kV high voltage power export cable with an optical fibre insert to the Dutch EPC contractor, Van Oord Dredging & Marine Contractors b.v. Van Oord is the EPC contractor for the first phase of the wind farm project. The optical fibre elements will be manufactured at Nexans’ factory at Rognan, Norway, while the export cable will be made at the company’s factory located in Halden, Norway.
The cable will connect the windfarm, comprising 55 wind turbines that will generate a total of 165MW, to the Belgian power network. The cable will be laid by Nexans’ cable-laying vessel C/S Nexans Skagerrak and buried into the seabed using Nexans’ CapJet trenching system. Delivery is scheduled for the summer of 2010, with the windfarm coming on stream in 2011.