Dutch Developing Offshore Wind Power Infrastructure
Swedish utility to build first two units of Kust Zuid offshore wind complex.
MAP COURTESY VATTENFALL
The Hollandse Kust Zuid 1 and 2 farms are expected to one day supply 700 to 750 MW of capacity, drawing from an estimated 60 to 130 turbines, depending on the kind of monopile-foundation wind technology installed.
Swedish utility Vattenfall this year deployed 8.4-MW turbines off the coast of Scotland. Manufacturing and engineering producers such as Siemens and GE are now eyeing turbines as large as 12 MW. However capacity is reached, the Kust Zuid 1 and 2 field will generate enough power for up to 1.5 million households. The project will be managed and operated by a subsidiary of Vattenfall.
Vattenfall spokeswoman Ariane Volz says the company cannot report many details yet, as they are just now drawing up the project team for the Kust Zuid 1 and 2 concession, which was awarded to the firm by the Dutch government last spring. “We have the ambition to be fossil free within one generation, and that’s why we invest in renewables,” Volz says. “This fits very well with plans for Vattenfall in the Netherlands.” Vattenfall already operates a wind farm to the west of Egmond aan Zee off the North Sea coast, running 36 turbines rated at 3 MW each.
The cable companies coming on board for Kust Zuid 1 and 2 under transmission system operator TenneT are Rotterdam-based Van Oord, an engineering firm that also runs dredging and marine contracting, and Hellenic Cables of Athens. TenneT is the offshore grid operator for the Netherlands and Germany, connecting offshore power to the onshore grid. Dutch government plans call for investing €15 billion to €20 billion ($17 billion to $23 billion) into offshore wind by 2030, adding production of 7 GW over that period.
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