SSE-led consortium, Vattenfall-CIP JV win permits for two Dutch offshore wind farms
An SSE Renewables-led consortium and a Vattenfall-Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) joint venture have been awarded permits for constructing and operating two new offshore wind farms off the Netherlands.
Noordzeker, a consortium consisting of SSE Renewables, Dutch pension fund ABP and its asset manager AGP, received the permit for the IJmuiden Ver Wind Farm Site Alpha while the Zeevonk II joint venture received the license for IJmuiden Ver Wind Farm Site Beta.
The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) said that the total capacity of at least 4GW for the two sites was the country’s largest offshore wind tender round to date. The wind farms will provide for approximately 14% of current electricity consumption in the Netherlands.
Noordzeker’s will include wind farm designs that contribute to the protection of birds as well as having more than 75% of the wind turbines in the wind farm as artificial reefs. These reefs will provide a protected habitat for various types of fish.
In the IJmuiden Ver Beta wind farm, Zeevonk II will look to integrate the wind farm into the Dutch energy system via a 1GW electrolyser in the port of Rotterdam. The wind farm will also house the largest offshore solar park in the Netherlands. This new park will have a capacity of 50 MWp.
According to the Dutch Ministry, Noordzeker will pay €1m ($1.07m) a year while Zeevonk II will pay €20m ($21.5m) a year for the right to develop and operate the wind farm, both for a period of 40 years.
The two companies will also reimburse the costs for the environmental impact assessments and the offshore site characterisation studies which stand at around €40m ($43m) in total.
