Sumitomo Corporation announced on July 18 the agreement with Parkwind, a Belgian offshore wind company, to take shares in two offshore wind farm projects off the coast of Belgium.

The two offshore wind projects consist of Belwind 1, in operation since late 2010 and Northwind which is currently under construction.

The Belwind project is located on the Bligh Bank in the Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone of the North Sea, approximately 46km off the coast of Belgium and has a production capacity of 165MW.

The Northwind project is also located in the North Sea, on the Lodewijk Bank, approximately 37km off the Belgian coast and will enjoy a capacity of 216MW. The project cost for Belwind 1 was €650 million and the project cost for Northwind is expected to be approximately €900 million.

Once completed, the two wind farms will compose of  over 127 wind turbines manufactured by Vestas. The electricity generated is sold through long term agreements to Electrabel and corresponds to the needs of approximately 370,000 households.

Sumitomo will acquire a 39.0% stake in the Belwind 1 project and a 33.3% stake in the Northwind project. Parkwind and Sumitomo will also work together on the development of the Belwind 2 project, a 165MW offshore wind farm adjacent to the Belwind 1 wind farm.

The Belgian projects will be the first offshore wind farm project that Sumitomo has undertaken worldwide. Sumitomo has extensive experience in the operation of onshore wind farms. Sumitomo has a total power generating capacity of 6,129 MW, of which 524 MW are wind assets.

Parkwind's shareholders are the Colruyt Group, Korys NV, the investment holding of the Colruyt family, and PMV.

• Colruyt Group operates in the food and non-food distribution sector in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The Group has sales of over €8.3 billion.
• Korys, the family holding of the Colruyt family, enjoys a diversified portfolio of investments.
• PMV is a Flemish investment company. It focuses on the sustainable economic development of Flanders (the Flemish Region of Belgium). PMV manages a portfolio of EUR 900 million in assets.