The inauguration ceremony of the fourth wind farm off the Belgian coast – Nobelwind – took place on Wednesday 24 May in Ostend, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters.

The 50th and final turbine in the wind farm, around 45 kilometres from the Zeebrugge shore, was connected to the electricity grid on 24 May 2017.

The offshore wind farm was constructed in record time, becoming fully operational precisely one year after construction started out at sea. A testing period will now run until December.

Nobelwind has an installed capacity of 165 MW and is capable of supplying electricity to 180,000 families.

The addition of Nobelwind brings offshore wind energy to 877 MW, which can supply power to 860,000 households.

Meanwhile, five new wind farms are under development: Rentel, Norther, Mermaid, Seastar and Northwester 2. Once all nine farms are operational in 2020, Belgium will have access to 2,200 MW of renewable energy sourced on the North Sea.

For more info, see: www.nobelwind.eu