LOC Renewables has been contracted by the Belgian electricity transmission system operator, Elia, to provide marine warranty survey (MWS) services for the Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) project, located 40 km off the Belgian coast in the North Sea
LOC Renewables, a part of LOC Group, will provide support during the construction and installation of the offshore switchyard (OSY) platform and the submarine cables that will connect to it.
The MOG project, with its central OSY platform, will connect four planned wind farms - Rentel, Northwester 2, Mermaid and SeaStar - enabling them to supply electricity directly to the Belgian national electricity grid. LOC Renewables said this project could serve as the foundation for the future development of an extensive North Sea grid, with the potential to interconnect the electricity supplies of neighbouring countries.
Construction of the OSY platform, a grounded four-leg substructure housing 220kV gas insulated switchgear, started in 2018. Initial work on installing the submarine cable connections will commence in 2019, including a 220kV AC cable linking the OSY to the Rentel wind farm, along with two further identical cables linking the OSY to the Stevin substation at Zeebrugge.
LOC Renewables' Paris office will continue to provide MWS services until 2020.
"In providing a foundation for the expansion of offshore capacity in Belgian waters, the MOG will play an important role in the reliable supply of renewable electricity into the grid for years to come," said Hugues Delanoue, managing director of LOC Paris.