The 54 wind turbines, which are positioned 30 kilometres out to sea, produced 277.4 GWh of electricity in December and January. That is the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of 80,000 families!
This production is three times higher than production in months with extremely poor wind conditions such as July and August 2013. This is explained by a high technical availability, high average wind speeds and the fact that during those two winter months, wind speeds only fell below 20 km/h on 8 days. This is good news: wind turbines start turning at 13 km/h and reach their maximum capacity from 49 km/h.
In December and January, there were 12 stormy days with average wind speeds exceeding 80 km/h. These powerful turbines are only discontinued for safety reasons when the wind reaches speeds of 108 km/h or more for 10 minutes. Such high speeds were not reached, so all wind turbines always continued to run at full speed.
The construction of the 325 MW offshore wind farm was completed in the summer of 2013. With a total investment of 1.3 billion euros, it is a world first, which was brought to a successful conclusion by C-Power and its structural partners: the consortium THV Seawind (joint venture between Dredging International and Fabricom), Senvion (formerly known as REpower), ABB and the Port of Ostend. C-Power will supply energy to more than 300,000 families each year, and avoids the emission of 415,000 tonnes of carbon into the environment year on year.
