ABB has commissioned the subsea transmission link connecting one of the largest offshore wind parks in Europe to the Belgian grid. The Thornton Bank project, executed for the Belgian company C-Power NV was completed on schedule. In the first phase of its development, six wind turbines with a total capacity of 30 MW were built and temporarily connected to the mainland. The second and third phases of the project involved adding 48 wind turbines to the wind farm and connecting the complete wind park, taking its overall capacity to 325 MW. The transformer station platform collecting and transmitting the power to the coast of Belgium is placed 30 km offshore in the North Sea.
The wind park has a generating capacity of more than 1,000 GWh/year of electricity, equivalent to the annual consumption of about 300,000 households in Belgium. It will contribute approximately 7% of Belgium’s targeted renewable energy commitment by 2020. The Thornton Banks wind farm helps avoid CO2 emissions of approximately 415,000 t/year compared to a traditional gas-fueled power plant.