The Netherlands: Site data wind farm zone Borssele I & II ready for developers

With the completion of the geotechnical investigation, the  information package of the soil, wind and water conditions of the offshore wind farm zone is completed.

On behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, RVO.nl started with the collection of site data of the Borssele offshore wind farm zone in 2014. This was  the first time the Dutch government executed a project like this and that is why BLIX was hired as an advisor.

BLIX set up a project organisation, prepared EU tenders, carried out the contract management and supervised the studies. RVO.nl published the tenders. This joint project was completed on time and within the budget. The results were presented to the sector during workshops, whereby the sector was able to provide input.

During the project both RVO.nl and BLIX were constantly in contact with the relevant Ministries, the market and stakeholders such as TenneT. Ruud de Bruijne, senior advisor renewable energy and project leader of site studies for RVO.nl: “We received positive reactions from the market about the quality and depth of the results.” These can be found on http://offshorewind.rvo.nl/.

The Borssele wind farm sites I and II are the first sites that will be awarded by the government according to the new SDE+ tender system. It is expected that the tender will open on the December 1^st and from that date commercial parties can sign up for one or both sites. Developers can use the available site data as input for their FEED studies, which will allow competitive bids. The bidder with the lowest price per site will receive the subsidy and permits to realise a wind farm.

The first two Borssele wind farm sites will provide 700 MW of renewable energy. The total Borssele wind farm zone provides 1400 MW wind power for 1,5 million households, that is enough energy for all the households in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Designated wind farm zones Hollandse Kust North and South will also be awarded via tenders in the coming years. According to the Energy Agreement, offshore wind farms must generated 4.450 MW wind power in 2023. This is enough wind capacity to provide electricity for around one third of the households in the Netherlands.