Sustainable Energy Transition: Offshore Wind in the Netherlands Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the development and implementation of offshore wind energy in the Netherlands. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the country's commitment to sustainable energy and the drivers behind this transition, including climate change, overdependence on international energy suppliers, and the decline of fossil fuels. The report delves into the current state of technology, the existing offshore wind farms, and the roadmap for expanding offshore wind power capacity, including the legal framework through the Offshore Wind Energy Law. It also explores the impacts of offshore wind on the energy system, technical developments, and the barriers and opportunities associated with this renewable energy source, such as turbine challenges, manpower needs, and construction risks. The Netherlands has set ambitious targets for offshore wind power, and the report details the tendering system, the key players involved, and the progress made towards achieving these goals. The analysis concludes with a discussion of the future of offshore wind energy in the Netherlands, emphasizing the importance of technological advancements and strategic planning to ensure a sustainable and reliable energy supply for its citizens.

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SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

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Executive Summary
The Netherlands is putting every efforts its takes and works on transitions to sustainable,
affordable and reliable energy supply to all its citizens. The main drivers of these transitions are
climate change, overdependence on international suppliers of energy and rapidly reducing
availability of fossil fuels. All the sources of sustainable energy in the country are expected to hit
16% sustainable energy goal by 2023. The conditions in the Netherlands for offshore energy
among them good harbor facilities, waters that are relatively shallow, robust support system,
good wind resource besides an industrial wind and elaborate and extensive experience are
excellent making it highly possible and convenient to harness the resource. The operational wind
farms and those under construction combined have a capacity of about 1000 MW. Turbine
challenges, skills, and construction risks are among the barriers to offshore wind energy in the
Netherlands.

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Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
The current State of Technology.................................................................................................................5
Offshore wind farms in the Netherlands.................................................................................................7
The roadmap towards 4500 MW offshore wind power in the Netherlands............................................8
The Offshore Wind Energy Law...............................................................................................................9
Impacts on the energy systems.................................................................................................................12
Technical developments in the future.......................................................................................................13
Barriers and Opportunities to offshore wind power in the Netherlands...................................................15
Turbine challenges.................................................................................................................................15
Building Manpower...............................................................................................................................16
Construction Risks.................................................................................................................................17
Building Successful Offshore..................................................................................................................19
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................19
References.................................................................................................................................................21

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OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY IN NETHERLANDS
Introduction
In accordance with the international developments, the Netherlands experiences numerous
challenges in her attempts to lower global emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. As
per the international agreement on climate change, an agreement was reached for an achievement
of a global balance between emissions of greenhouse gases and trapping and storage by the
second half of the 21st century (Arent, 2017, p.172). Despite these numerous challenges, the
Netherlands is putting every effort it takes and works on transitions to sustainable, affordable and
reliable energy supply to all her citizens. The main drivers of the transition include climate
change, overdependence on the international supplier of energy as well as the rapidly reducing
availability of fossil fuels.
As per the National Energy Agreement, a unanimous consensus was reached that each
organization in the country including the Ministries, unions, NGOs, energy organizations and
employer organizations hit a target of 16% sustainable energy by 2023. All the sources of
sustainable energy in the country are expected to hit this goal and the wind energy sector both
land-based and offshore are not left behind either (Ghosh, 2011, p.213). The conditions in the
Netherlands for offshore energy are excellent making it highly possible and convenient to
harness the resource. Among the conditions in the country include good harbor facilities, waters
that are relatively shallow, robust support system, good wind resource besides an industrial wind
and elaborate and extensive experience.

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The current State of Technology
By the end of the year 2015, the Netherlands had reached an installed capacity of 3431 MW of
wind power out of which 427 MW was derived from offshore wind. The country had 2174
turbines by that time which was able to generate to the tune of 5.6% of the total demand for
electricity in the country during the year. This figure has been on the rise since then to an
average of 11.4% of wind power on average across the entire electricity consumption in the
European Union (Pedraza, 2015, p.183). It is in the year 2015 that the highest number of new
installations were done with regard to harnessing offshore wind energy in which 586 MW were
added out of which 180 MW were from offshore energy.
The Netherlands is making every effort to meet the set target of the European Union of
generating 14% of the total amount of energy from renewable sources by the year 2020 and 16%
by 2023. Windmills have for a long time been used in the country as an alternative to the mills
that were driven by water. Most of the ancient and smaller wind farms in the country are
composed of much smaller turbines in comparison to the turbines that are deployed today
(Musial, 2011, p.210). Such turbines were manufactured but wind turbine manufacturers who
were less famous at the time who at the time produced innovative products among them the
Nedwnd 2 blade turbine.
From 2015 moving forward, plans have been set in place that has since deployment and planning
for large wind farms with an idea to estimate tripling wind power capacity by the year 2023
(Anaya-Lara, 2014, p.320). The 429 MW Noordoostpolder wind fame was the first of these that
was already deployed by the end of 2015 as well as Gemini offshore wind farm that was
commissioned in 2017. The newer and larger farms being set up currently are making use of the
largest wind turbines that are available in the market to ensure maximum wind energy is trapped.

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The Netherlands has also taken advantage of the good linkages she has with her neighbors to
ensure a high rise in the production of intermittent power from wind energy through the use of
high voltage cable which allows power to be exported or imported as needed. Among such
linkages include the 1000 MW BritNed cable link which links to the United Kingdom, the 580
km NorNed submarine cable which is 700 MW and likes to Norway as well as the anticipated
2019 COBRA cable link that will link the Netherlands to Denmark and supply 700 MW of wind
energy.
The government of Netherlands has set a target of 4450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023
which if achieved will enable the country to realize the 14% target of renewable energy use from
the total energy use by 2020 and 16% by 2023 (Beurskens, 2011, p.245). The country has set in
place a new tendering system for offshore wind in which the deployment of the new wind farm is
based on the SER agreement. The SER agreement defines five years plans of tending 700 MW
every year. Under this system, the government makes a choice on the locations and arranges
tenders for projects of 350 MW while the project developers are then given an opportunity to
offer bids for each of the farms. The government is also in charge of surveys of the sites so as to
reduce the costs of multiple and unplanned surveys by the developers. The table below shows
the offshore wind energy targets as defined in the 2015 SER agreement
Call for tender Additional offshore
wind power (MW)
Becoming Operational
Early 2016 700 2019-2020
Late 2016 700 2020
2017 700 2021
2018 700 2022
2019 700 2023
Total 3, 500

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Offshore wind farms in the Netherlands
The currently operational wind farms besides those under construction combined have a capacity
of about 1000 MW. The Princess Amalia Wind farm built in 2008 and the Offshore Wind Farm
Egmond aan Zee built in 2006 were the first two offshore wind farms that were built in the North
Sea located off the coast of the Netherlands. The Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee is composed of 36
Vestas 3 MW turbines and lies 10-18 km off the coast (Arent, 2017, p.198). This farm generates
a total of 108 MW of power which is able to sufficiently light 100, 000 homes. The farm is
owned by Noordzeewind which is a joint investment between oil company Shell and utility
company NUON and cost $272 million.
The Princess Amalia Wind farm is owned by the utility company Eneco and is located 23 km off
the coast outside the 12-mile zone. The Princess Amalia Wind farm has 60 Vestas 2 MW
turbines. This means it generates up to 120 MW of power which is enough to power 125, 000
homes. The energy generated by Princess Amalia Wind farm helps the Netherlands in cutting to
the tune of 225, 000 tons of emissions of carbon dioxide. This wind park was a development by
Eneco Energie and Econcern off the coast of Ijmuiden at a cost of $522.3 million (Lynn, 2011,
p.225).
The Gemini wind farm and Wind Farm Luchterduinen are farms that are under construction. The
Wind Farm Luchterduinen is composed of 43Vestas 3 MW turbines and is situated 23 km off the
coast. From the turbines in the farm is can be observed that when fully operational it will
generate 129 MW of power. An estimated 228 MW of installed capacity will be added to the
farm at the time of completion of the full construction process (Junginger, 2010, p.102). The
Gemini farm will be constructed with 150 Siemens 4 MW turbines and will be located at Zee-
energy and Buitengaats which are 85 km off the coast. The farm is under the ownership of the

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Northland Power, Siemens, HVC as well as Van Oord. Other offshore wind farms in the
Netherlands include Irene Vorrink and Lely. Lely wind farm was built in 1992 and had 4
Nedwind 500 kW turbines that were based 1km to the shore. The farm was decommissioned and
dismantled in 2016.
The roadmap towards 4500 MW offshore wind power in the Netherlands
At least 40 organizations laid the foundation for a robust, future-proof energy as well as climate
policy for the Netherlands in the Energy Agreement that aimed at Sustainable Growth. Scaling
up offshore wind power formed an integral part of this agreement (IBP, 2015, p.177). A roadmap
to the achievement of the expansion of offshore wind was presented to the parliament of the
country by the Minister of Economic Affair. This roadmap was an outline that would enable the
government attains the expansion of offshore wind power in line with the agreed timeline as per
the Energy Agreement.
In this 4500 MW offshore power roadmap, an annual tendering of 700 MW is foreseen in the
period between 2015 and 2019 in which a precondition of a decrease in the cost of offshore wind
power by 40% in the future years is set. The new 3500 MW offshore wind capacity will be
deployed by three offshore wind farm zones (Pedraza, 2015, p.253). These three offshore wind
farm zones included North Holland coast wind farm zone that had a capacity of 700 MW, South
Holland coast wind farm zone with a capacity of 1400 MW as well as Borssele with a capacity of
1400 MW as well. The schedule below was to be used in the selection of the parties to the
tenders that would be used in achieving the offshore wind farms

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Year Power Wind farm Zone
2015 700 MW Borssele wind farm zone
2017 700 MW Borssele wind farm zone
2016 700 MW South Holland coast wind farm zone
2017 700 MW South Holland coast wind farm zone
2018 700 MW North Holland coast wind farm zone
2019 700 MW North Holland coast wind farm zone
Within four years after a decision on funding has been made, the farms would become fully
operational and would adopt state-of-the-art technology that would be in place at the time. A new
Offshore Wind Energy Law would be the legal base for this roadmap.
The Offshore Wind Energy Law
A law was developed by the Dutch government that guided the tendering of the designated areas
of offshore wind with each of them having a different site. The environmental impact assessment
will be used as the basis of consenting the sites which will have a grid connection to the
mainland. The government would also avail the site data informative of the physical
environment. By following this procedure, it was expected that there would be a reduction in the
social cost in comparison to the previously developed wind farms (Kaiser, 2012, p.395). In the
previously developed wind farms, consents and investigations that provided input for their Front
End Engineering Design studies were left as a responsibility of the developers. This saw the
developers undergo high cost before they could make applications for subsidies from the
government.
The new approach is contained in the Offshore Wind Energy Law that took effect in July 2015
after being sent to parliament in October 2014. The approach was arrived at after elaborate and
extensive consultative engagements with the wind energy sector (Poudineh, 2017, p.302). The
approach had significant in improving the efficiency in the use of spaces, reduction in costs as

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well as acceleration of deployment of offshore wind energy. There were five distinct aspects of
the system:
1. Wind farms are only to be in the designated wind farm zones
Wind farms were designated under the National Water Plan. Construction of wind farms was
only allowed in these designated zones and any location of a winning farm outside these
designated wind farm zones was not to be consented by the relevant bodies and authorities.
2. Provision of site data by the government
Investigation of the physical environment of the wind farm sites was a responsibility that was
shifted from the developers to the government. The government was thus to undertake an
investigation of the conditions of the soil, water, and wind of the various sites. The data was then
to be made available to the public and was meant to inform the commercial parties of their FEED
studies (Ng, 2016, p.216). The information was also vital in enabling competitive bids in
tendering procedure for the possibilities of grants. The site data would be published by the
Netherlands Enterprise Agency and among the information included in the data would be:
 Assessment of wind resource
 Data on geology, geomorphology as well as morph dynamics
 Geotechnical and geophysical data that was based on the surveys conducted
 Metocean data
 Unexploded Ordnance and archaeological analysis
3. The government to consent wind farm sites

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A wind farm site decision formed the required consent that approved the building of a wind farm
and specified an exact location for the wind farm as well as the conditions under which the farm
could be constructed and remains operational. These conditions would offer flexibility when it
comes to the design of the wind farm. The government had the sole mandate to decide on where
wind farms are to be constructed on wind farm sites. There could be numerous sites on a single
zone and the wind farm decision would be taken by the Ministries of Infrastructure and that of
Economic Affairs (Renewable, 2013, p.350). The conditions gave the commercial parties the
chance from the available options the best technical options within the confines of the
environmental and natural framework and achieve the projects at the lowest possible costs. The
decisions on wind farm sites were deemed to undergo environmental impact assessment which
was to be launched by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the Ministry of
Economic Affairs.
4. Grant tendering
Under the Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production, grants for the wind farm sites would be
offered via a dedicated call for tender. The producers would receive compensation in financial
terms for the electricity they generate for a fixed number of years which was 15 years for the
wind farms (Musial, 2011, p.320). The lowest bidder would win the tender. The condition for
winning the bid was such that it had to be equal or lower than the maximum allocated amount for
the specific wind farm site. In this light, the bidder who gives the lowest quotations would be
rewarded with the consent and the grant to construct and operate a wind farm in accordance with
the conditions of the wind farm site.

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5. TSO TenneT realizes grid connection
Five standardized platforms would be constructed by transmission System Operator TenneT each
with a capacity of 7000MW within the wind farm zones. The aim of this was to create economies
of scale (Pedraza, 2015, p.205). Two 220kV export cables would be used to connect each of the
wind farm zones to the national grid. In order to lower amount of cables required, a 380kV
subsea cable would be used as soon as it would be available in connecting the wind farm zones
to the grid. By connecting the wind turbines to the TenneT platform directly, the need for an
OWF platform was eliminated.
Impacts on the energy systems
Offshore wind energy adds to the energy system a source of energy that is in abundance and
widespread availability. As a result of population growth and rapid migration of people into the
cities, the coastal cities tend to have a high population and these numerous people can have
access to and use electricity generates from the wind using wind energy plants. This reduces
costs that are involved with transportation of electricity from the point of generation to the point
of consumption. Also reduced are the power losses that are normally associated with
transmission of electricity over long distances (Arent, 2017, p.125).
Still, just like any other renewable sources of energy, offshore energy adds to the energy system
environmental friendly sources of energy. The energy generated from winds can be fed directly
into a machine that produces electricity and used in driving nearby generates and power plants.
Coming across a clean energy source in the energy-powered world of today is a bit of a
challenge following the numerous barriers to adoption of clean energy