Six REpower 5M units installed at Phase 1 of Thronton Bank wind farm.

Major deals have been announced for the Thronton Bank offshore wind farm in Belgian waters. The C-Power consortium, which includes RWE Innogy, has entered into deals for subsea grid power cable connections with ABB, and the supply of wind turbines with REpower. The wind farm will be extended with an additional 295 MW of capacity, which is to be built in two turns, in 2012 and in 2013.

The cable deal with ABB is worth USD 125 million, and will result with a power link between the offshore wind farm and the mainland substation. ABB has already connected the initial six wind turbines built in the first phase of the Thornton Bank project.

REpower is to supply 48 6M turbines, each with 6.15 MW of power generating capacity, and erect them at the wind farm site. Their construction will happen in two phases. As part of the second phase of the project, 24 units will be installed during 2012, and another 24 during the third phase of the project in 2013.

Once all the phases are completed, Thornton Bank will have about 325 MW of installed capacity, enough to power some 600,000 average homes in Belgium with clean electricity. Thornton Bank is the largest offshore wind farm to be financed by commercial banks and the European Investment Bank, as well as the Germant and Danish Export Credit Agencies. The total investment for the project is in the neighborhood of EUR 1.3 billion.

[source: RWE Innogy, REpower and ABB; image: C-Power]