Today, Wind aan de Stroom inaugurated the first two new wind turbines on the DEME site. They are the very first wind turbines in the port area to be situated in Zwijndrecht. The Minister-President of Flanders Jan Jambon, the Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters, the Deputy to the Province of Antwerp Luk Lemmens, the Mayor of Zwijndrecht André Van de Vyver and Antwerp Port Alderman Annick De Ridder attended the ceremony. It was no coincidence that the inauguration was held on 'Global Wind Day'.
The two wind turbines are the first of a total of eight new turbines that Wind aan de Stroom will be installing on the left bank of the Scheldt in the near future. By doing so, Wind aan de Stroom will be helping advance the energy transition in the port of Antwerp. The masts of the majority of these new turbines will be between 92 and 135 metres high and the blades of the turbines will reach a maximum height of 199.5 metres. This means that they will reach about 30 metres higher than most wind turbines already in operation. However, the turbines on the DEME site are slightly lower in height than the other planned turbines and have a tip height of 150 metres, due to their proximity to Antwerp airport. However, their favourable location close to the Scheldt compensates for this, so they each still provide 3.5MW of power as well.
These two new turbines bring the number of wind turbines operated by Wind aan de Stroom on the left bank of the Scheldt to 23. Six wind turbines are expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2022, bringing the total number of operational wind turbines to 29. This represents a total installed capacity of 91.4MW and an annual production of 225 gigawatt hours of green electricity, which is approximately enough to supply 65,000 families with energy for a year!
By the way, did you know that in 2020, despite the COVID-19 crisis, some 93 gigawatts of additional wind energy was installed worldwide? This represents around 744 gigawatts of electricity.
Technical specifications
- Turbine supplier: Enercon
- Turbine type: E115EP3
- Electrical power per wind turbine: 3.5MW
- Mast height: 92 metres
- Length of the blades: 57.5 metres
- Tip height: 150 metres AGL
- Predicted annual production per wind turbine: 15,000 MWh/year
- Expected lifetime: 20 years
