Luminus wind turbines on Jan De Nul’s site in Ghent port area officially inaugurated
On the occasion of Global Wind Day, Belgian politicians officially inaugurated the two wind turbines that Luminus has built on the site of Jan De Nul Group in Zelzate, located in Ghent port area. These wind turbines contribute to the realisation of the Code Zero programme of Jan De Nul Group, which focuses on zero emissions, zero accidents, zero breaches and zero waste, according to the company's release.
Over the past ten years, Luminus has invested more than 1 billion euro in renewable energy projects, primarily in wind energy. With 273 onshore wind turbines by the end of this year, the company will have over 700 MW of installed capacity, having doubled the installed capacity in five years. The Luminus wind farms thus produce 1,300 GWh of green energy, which equates to the energy consumption of 370,000 families. This means that for the seventh year in a row, Luminus remains the number 1 in onshore wind energy in Belgium.
Jan De Nul also plays an important role in the energy transition. The company is probably best known to the general public as a civil and maritime construction company, but the global energy and sustainability challenges have in recent years resulted in an ever-widening range of activities for the company. For example, Jan De Nul connects electricity networks of different countries worldwide by installing interconnectors, submarine cables of up to hundreds of kilometres long, to align electricity supply and demand. But Jan De Nul also deploys specialised vessels to contribute to the production of energy by building offshore wind farms, an industry that in recent years has evolved at lightning speed, both on a technological level and in terms of size. Worldwide, there are only a few companies that can fully design, develop and build such installations, and Jan De Nul is one of them.
The two wind turbines that were officially inaugurated at Jan De Nul in Zelzate were constructed on site at the Karnemelkstraat in late 2021. With an installed capacity of 3.45 MW each, they produce about 17,100 MWh each year, which corresponds with the consumption of more than 4,500 households. The locally generated green power accounts for an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 3,625 tonnes of CO2, compared to the Belgian energy mix.
