The substation for the Rentel offshore wind farm is expected to sail away from the STX yard in Saint-Nazaire, onboard Scaldis' heavy lift crane vessel Rambiz, imminently.

The 1,100-tonne substation will collect and export the power generated by the 42 wind turbines located at the 309 MW Rental offshore wind farm, which is currently under construction off the Belgian coast.

The offshore installation of the substation will be carried out by DEME utilising the heavy lift crane vessel Rambiz in mid-January.

Last year GeoSea, part of the DEME Group, completed the installation of the monopile foundations and transition pieces with the jack-up installation vessel Innovation, as well as the foundation for the substation.

Installation of the turbines by GeoSea is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018. With their peak height of 183 m, DEME says they will be the largest wind turbines thus far in the Belgian sector of the North Sea.