Building of Energy Island Lasts Too Long

The Netherlands has the ambition to have several offshore wind farms ready by 2030 so that climate agreements can be met. Future wind farms will be built on predetermined plots that lie in the west of the Dutch coast and above the Wadden Islands.

BLIX Consultancy has validated, on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland), the assumptions and considerations used by TenneT to arrive at an optimal landfall of the electricity from the future IJmuiden Ver wind energy area.

BLIX notes that the assumptions of the TenneT studies are valid. In the validation six different scenarios were reviewed, varying from conventional alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) platforms of different sizes to the most ambitious: an island-hub. The latter scenario is operationally attractive compared to platforms. However the island-hub cannot be operational in time. It takes till 2028 to be constructed with risks of further delays and additional costs. This is thus not in line with the planning of the wind energy roadmap 2030. In this planning the first wind farms in IJmuiden Ver are operational from 2027 on. Ultimately, it appears that direct current platforms with a size of 2 GW are the most attractive in terms of costs, risks and planning.

Researcher Mark de la Vieter of BLIX Consultancy states on the recently delivered validation report for IJmuiden Ver: "Building an innovative island-hub brings a greater uncertainty of delay in the planning phase then building a well-known direct current platform. Therefore a direct current platform fits within the ambitions of the national government’s need for speed. I predict that in the longer term island-hubs will be part of our Dutch electrical infrastructure at sea."