RWE AG and its partners in the Thornton Bank wind park off the coast of Belgium have decided to invest in a 1.3 billion-euro (US$1.7 billion) expansion of the facility.

Turbines will be provided by REpower ,which expects to install 24 of its 6.15 MWp offshore wind turbines for phase 2 in spring 2012, and the remaining 24 for phase 3 by mid-2013.

In addition to developers C-Power - a consortium of four Belgian investors, plus RWE Innogy and EDF Energies Nouvelles - a bank consortium of 7 banks and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are providing around €900 million in financing. The total investment for the Thornton Bank offshore wind farm expansion is expected to be approximately €1.3 billion.

Andreas Nauen, CEO of REpower Systems AG, says: “We are extremely delighted about the trust once again put in REpower. The fact that we have been chosen as turbine supplier for the next two phases of the first Belgian offshore wind farm shows that the client is convinced by the quality and reliability of our offshore technology, proven in phase 1.”

REpower will produce, deliver, install, commission and test run the offshore wind turbines.

Thornton Bank offshore wind farm is located about 28 km from the Belgian cost in water depths of 12-27 m. It was officially commissioned in June 2009.