The dredging specialists will supply, install and maintain a 4.5 kilometre, 220kV power cable from between the grid’s offshore switchyard platform (OSY) to the first project's platform.
The Deme Group company will also install two 39-kilometre cables between the OSY and the onshore connection point on the beach in Zeebrugge, Belgium, as part of the €130 million contract with transmission system operator Elia.
The MOG comprises an offshore platform connected to four wind farms and is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
The grid — comprising 309MW Rentel, 224MW Northwester 2, 266MW Mermaid and 252MW Seastar offshore wind projects — will initially be built for 1.05GW capacity, but this can be increased in the future.
DEME will deploy its new vessels Minerva and Scheldt River — the world’s first dredgers to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) — to prepare the seabed.
LNG will also fuel Living Stone, the multipurpose vessel Deme will use to install the cables. The company said this will keep the environmental impact of the installation to an "absolute minimum".
Greek manufacturer Hellenic Cables has been sub-contracted to provide the cables for installation.
The MOG is estimated to cost €400 million. Last month, the European Investment Bank (EIB) loaned €100 million to support Elia’s Stevin grid project, which helps link the MOG and other offshore projects to Belgium’s national grid.
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