The European Commission (EC) has approved the restructuring of ownership over the Seastar and Mermaid offshore wind parks in Belgium. The two assets will be operated by a joint venture (JV) called Seamade and owned by Otary, Eneco and Engie (through Electrabel). Previously, Otary owned 100% of Seastar and 65% of Mermaid, with Electrabel owning the remaining 35%. Seamade will have a total combined capacity of 487 MW, of which 235 MW in the Mermaid concession area and 252 MW in Seastar.
According to the EC, the transaction raises no competition concerns in particular because of the pre-existing ownership rights of the companies. The financial close for Seamade is expected by the end of 2018 while the construction and the commissioning of the project are scheduled to start in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
In October 2017, the Belgian authorities have agreed on a new applicable support scheme (green certificate) for the two wind parks and an updated levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of €79/MWh has been negotiated for the three projects, which represents a significant subsidy reduction compared with the 2016 LCOE of €138/MWh for the C-Power, Belwind, Northwind and Nobelwind offshore wind projects.