DEME wins cable job for modular offshore grid in Belgium

Belgian dredging company DEME on Wednesday unveiled a contract to install submarine power cables for a modular offshore grid in the Belgian North Sea.

The order, worth EUR 130 million (USD 153m), was awarded to DEME’s unit Dredging International by Belgian transmission system operator Elia. Under its terms, the contractor will supply, install and maintain three 220-kV submarine power cables for the so-called "electricity plug". Cables will be produced by Greek company Hellenic Cables (FRA:HLC).

Work will be undertaken with DEME’s new fleet of vessels among which will be hoppers Minerva and Scheldt River and cable installation vessel Living Stone.

The modular facility will connect to the Belgian grid the next four offshore wind farms -- Rentel, Northwester 2, Mermaid and Seastar -- whose expected combined capacity is 1,030 MW. It will also provide opportunities for future development and interconnections with neighbouring countries.

The modular grid will consist of an offshore switchyard platform situated off the Zeebrugge coast to which the new wind farms will connect and which will be linked to the shore via submarine cables. It is scheduled to become operational in the third quarter of 2019.

In April, Elia said it will invest an estimated EUR 400 million in the offshore grid development.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.177)

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