Baltic Eagle offshore wind platform development highlights Belgium's leadership role

The Belgian offshore wind platform that is part of the Baltic Eagle project in the Baltic Sea is ready for departure. The 476-megawatt offshore wind farm by Spanish company Iberdrola is being built about 28 km from the island of Rügen, where it will generate power for nearly half a million German families in the coming years. With the realisation of the platform, Belgium confirms its place as a leader in the offshore wind industry.

The offshore wind platform that will form the beating heart of the Baltic Eagle was developed at ENGIE Fabricom's site near Antwerp, Belgium, where Offshore High Voltage Stations (OHVS) are built and assembled for offshore wind farms. Construction was led by Equans, Smulders, 50Hertz (Elia Group's German subsidiary) and Spain's Iberdrola. The wind turbines will produce as much green power as the annual consumption of 475,000 families.

"Thanks to our expertise, companies can export climate solutions worldwide"

"This is the peace project of our time," said Energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Green). "Thanks to our expertise, companies can export climate solutions worldwide. This is another concrete step to assure that offshore wind becomes the largest power plant in Europe."

"We are exporting technology to accelerate the energy transition," Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) added. "The Baltic Eagle project is one of the best examples of this: Belgian expertise at the heart of an innovative project with several European players."

The transmission platform will later be connected to the German Lubmin high-voltage substation

The realisation of the Baltic Eagle project will avoid annual CO2 emissions of almost one million tonnes, high-voltage grid operator Elia stated. "The transmission platform will later be connected to the German Lubmin high-voltage substation via two undersea high-voltage cables, each 90 km long," Elia noted. "The high-voltage substation will receive the export cables from the wind farm and convert the voltage level. The electricity will then be injected into the German high-voltage grid via submarine cables."

Baltic Eagle is a 476-megawatt offshore wind farm from Iberdrola and is being built in the German Baltic Sea, about 28 km from the island of Rügen. The wind farm covers an area of 40 km2 and is Iberdrola's second offshore wind initiative in Germany. Together with the first Wikinger offshore wind farm, Iberdrola's wind cluster will cover around 85 per cent of the total electricity consumption of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, thus contributing to Germany's CO2 reduction targets and the German energy transition.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Illustration picture taken during a visit to the construction site of offshore platform 'Baltic Eagle' in Hoboken, Antwerp, Monday 21 November 2022.}

^{© BELGA PHOTO - David Pintens}

^{Illustration video shows Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten during a visit to the construction site of the offshore platform 'Baltic Eagle' in Hoboken, Antwerp, Monday 21 November 2022.}

^{© BELGA VIDEO - Robbe Vandegehuchte}