OFFSHORE WIND FARM HOLLANDSE KUST ZUID GENERATES FIRST POWER

The Hollandse Kust Zuid wind farm has started supplying power to the Dutch grid. Although still in its test phase, the first rotating turbine is already producing energy. The electricity is brought to shore via the Alpha transformer station.

The wind farm is situated in the North Sea, some 18 to 35 kilometres off the coast between The Hague and Zandvoort. The 225 km2 farm is owned by AYOP member Vattenfall, BASF and Allianz, and should be fully operational in 2023.

SECOND CONSTRUCTION PHASE WELL UNDERWAY
The construction of Hollandse Kust Zuid started last summer with the placement of 34 foundations in the sea, and was put on hold during the winter months. The second phase of the project – placement of the remaining foundations, cables and turbines – is now proceeding apace. The first turbine was raised at Easter and some 36 of them are now standing tall. The final turbines are expected to be installed in the second quarter of 2023.

“We are very proud to reach this milestone,” says project director Ian Bremner. “It marks an important moment for us and for all our partners, suppliers and contractors who helped us get this far. Hollandse Kust Zuid will be the world’s largest wind farm at sea and the first to be subsidy-free. It’s great to see everything coming to fruition and we look forward to completing the entire farm in 2023.”

MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO THE ENERGY CHALLENGE
The SG 11.0 200 DD-turbines installed on the wind farm each have a capacity of 11 megawatts. The amount of electricity the 1.5 GW wind farm will generate is equivalent to the consumption of around 1.5 million Dutch households. The power comes to shore via two offshore transformer stations realised by TenneT. These ‘sockets at sea’ collect all the power of the wind farm before leading it into the Dutch electricity grid.

Source: Vattenfall

Photo: Vattenfall/van der Kloet Foto & Videoproducties