Belgians seek cable system provider for multi-gigawatt offshore grid connection

Belgian transmission system operator Elia has issued a contract notice covering the delivery of a submarine cable system for the Modular Offshore Grid II (MOG II) grid connection system in the North Sea.

The MOG II project includes the construction of a new offshore grid infrastructure to connect new wind farms in the up to 3.5 GW Princess Elisabeth zone to the national grid via an energy island.

The scope of the contract covers the project management, design, engineering, construction, supply, installation, burial, handling, and commissioning of a 220 kV submarine cable system for the MOG II grid connection from the beach landfall to an offshore substation in the Princess Elisabeth wind farm zone.

The submarine cable system consists of six cables divided over two lots with three cables each.

The contract also covers specific maintenance services for the subsea cables.

The tender remains open until 27 July.

If built to full capacity, the Princess Elisabeth wind farm zone will raise Belgium’s installed offshore wind capacity from the current 2.26 GW to 5.8 GW by 2030.

Belgium is also one of the four EU countries that recently announced the common aim of increasing the joint offshore wind capacity to 65 GW by 2030, and 150 GW by 2050.