The Thorntonbank Wind Farm is an offshore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind turb ...

, off the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

coast, in water ranging from deep. Electricity production started in early 2009, with a capacity of 30 MW. The capacity was increased to a total of 214 MW in 2012 and 325 MW in 2013.

Phases

First phase

The first phase was built by C-Power and consists of six

REpower Senvion S.A. (called REpower Systems SE until 2014) was a German wind turbine manufacturer founded in 2001 in Germany, majority owned by a private equity firm. Senvion as REpower Systems, as it was initially called, was established in 2001 th ...

offshore

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

s of 5 MW capacity on the Thornton sandbank, at a cost of €153 million.Thorntonbank (Belgium) offshore wind farm
''4C'' . Retrieved: 27 October 2010. It was commissioned in June 2009.REpower turbines to Thornton Bank offshore wind farm expansion
''Renewable Energy Focus'', 26 November 2010. Accessed: 13 October 2011. A 37 km 150 kV undersea cable connects the Thorntonbank Wind Farm to the shore.Final kick off for the 300 MW wind farm in front of the Belgian coast
/ref> The first phase of what will ultimately be a 325 MW wind farm was completed in September 2008. The six

5 MW turbines, which were installed on concrete gravity foundations, were linked to the Belgian power grid, giving a total rated capacity of 30 MW for the first stage. The full story of the design, engineering, construction and installation of the Thorntonbank Wind Farm (first phase) is told in an illustrated book that was published in November 2010.

Second and third phase

In these phases, a total of 48 additional wind turbines of 6.15MWp were installed. Phase 2, completed in October 2012, comprises the installation of 30 of the 48 wind turbines. These wind turbines have been installed on steel jacket foundations designed by OWEC Tower AS and assembled at Smulders, Hoboken. In the third and last phase, completed in September 2013, the remaining 18 wind turbines were installed, bringing the total capacity to around 325 MW.Phase 2 complete

Environmental assessment

To assess the

environmental impact Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

C-Power has enlisted the assistance of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO ) to obtain the most detailed possible information on the occurrence of these animal species at Thornton Bank and to assess the possible effect of a wind farm on them.Environmental impact
How the Wind Farms affect the landscape will be studied by WES-Onderzoek & Advies, who were also involved in earlier research in connection with the perceived impact on the landscape of near shore wind farms. Offshore wind farms may affect sea fishing. Certain areas may be closed to commercial fishing, as a result of which the total area that can be fished is reduced, but new habitats may also be created as a result. The basis for this study is a thorough investigation of the importance of the Thornton Bank for sea fishing. Offshore wind farms create new structures at sea and by definition they therefore pose an additional risk to the safety of shipping. C-Power has, however, chosen a location which is a long way from the most important shipping routes so that this risk can be reduced to a minimum. C-Power will be calling upon the specialised knowledge of German consultants

Germanischer Lloyd The Germanischer Lloyd SE was a classification society based in the city of Hamburg, Germany. It ceased to exist as an independent entity in September 2013 as a result of its merger with Norway's DNV (Det Norske Veritas) to become DNV GL. Before ...

Financing

Thorntonbank was only the second offshore wind farm to be

project finance Project finance is the long-term financing of infrastructure and industrial projects based upon the projected cash flows of the project rather than the balance sheets of its sponsors. Usually, a project financing structure involves a number of equi ...

Gallery

File:Windmill D1 (Thornton Bank).jpg, Wind turbine D1 File:Windmills D1-D6 (Thornton Bank) - final construction phase.jpg, Wind turbines D1 to D6 File:Windmill bases (Oostende - from southwest).jpg, Wind turbine bases under construction File:Windmill bases (Oostende - from northwest).jpg, Wind turbine bases under construction File:Offshore windpark Thorntonbank.jpg, As seen from the Belgian coast, demonstrating the curvature of the Earth

References

External links

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Thornton Bank
RWE Innogy *
LORC Knowledge - Datasheet for Thornton Bank 1
{{Wind power Offshore wind farms in the North Sea Wind farms in Belgium Ostend Energy infrastructure completed in 2013 2013 establishments in Belgium