A special naming ceremony was held for the world’s first DP2, twin-hulled Service Operation Vessel ‘Groenewind’. The Belgian Federal Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Straeten is the godmother of this unique vessel and she smoothly smashed the champagne bottle down on the hull, heralding a new era in offshore wind farm maintenance.

In a pioneering project in the offshore wind industry, DEME Offshore and Sabca performed tests with autonomous drones at the Rentel offshore wind farm in Belgium. The pilot study represents the first commercial, cross-border, ‘beyond visual line of sight’ (BVLOS) drone operations to take place at offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

Construction works at SeaMade, Belgium’s largest offshore wind farm, have crossed the finish line with the last of 58 turbines successfully installed on 30 November. The SeaMade wind farm will provide green energy for 485,000 households and will lead to a significant reduction of annual CO2 emissions of at least 500,000 tonnes.