The NHV Group today announced a new contract with Elia to provide helicopter services in support of the construction of a high voltage electricity grid in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The operations are expected to start in April 2019. Flights will depart from NHV’s base in Ostend.

NHV will support this project utilizing the H145 aircraft, the latest Airbus Helicopter 4-tonne-class twin-engine rotorcraft. With its high hoisting and hover performance and small footprint, the H145 can operate in performance class 1 conditions, while its compact airframe can manoeuvre in confined offshore environments.

The Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) is the first grid project of Elia at sea and the first of its kind in Belgium. The MOG will group and connect the offshore produced energy of four new wind farms (Rentel, Seastar, Mermaid and Northwester 2), so that it can be injected in the Belgian onshore grid via fewer sea cables. It consists of an Offshore Switchyard Platform (OSY), the transmissions systems on the Rentel platform and three submarine power cables connecting the platforms with the Stevin 380kV-substation in Zeebrugge. The MOG is of strategic importance for Belgium’s further development of renewable energy in the North Sea. The Modular Offshore Grid is scheduled to be taken into use by the end of the third quarter of 2019.

NHV’s base manager Bram De Backer commented: “We are delighted to be contributing to this pioneering project. Building on the expertise and know-how demonstrated in our other offshore operations, our goal is to deliver a state-of-the-art and safe service to Elia as they progress towards the MOG completion.

We thank Elia for their trust in NHV and we look forward to the start of our operations together.” This contract also fits in NHV’s long-term strategy to broaden its range of services to the energy market and to grow the renewables service alongside the oil and gas service.