Oranje Wind Power II wins tender for 700MW Hollandse Kust West
The winner of the permit for one of the two wind farms in the Hollandse Kust West Wind Farm Zone is Oranje Wind Power II, a subsidiary of RWE. The permit is for the construction and operation of the 700 MW Hollandse Kust West Wind Farm Site VII, one of the two new wind farms due to become operational in the Dutch North Sea in 2026. New innovations will be implemented for this project.
The Hollandse Kust West Wind Farm Zone (HKWWFZ) is located more than 50km off the Dutch coast. There are two sites within this zone: HKW Site VI and HKW Site VII. The Government issued a call for tenders for construction and operating permits last April. HKW Site VII will be realised without any subsidy. New features of the tender were that parties could make a financial offer and their projects should include innovative plans in the field of system integration.
Minister for Climate and Energy, Rob Jetten says, “This new wind farm is another major step in making the Netherlands more sustainable. It will produce enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately one million households per year. Wind energy is also very important for companies and industry that are increasingly electrifying their installations, replacing fossil fuels and raw materials. With this project we are making another concrete step towards achieving the goal of 21GW of offshore wind energy around 2030.”
In addition to the production of offshore wind energy, the Government has requested parties to come up with new solutions for fully integrating all the electricity generated into the Dutch energy system. This means, among other things, that any surplus electricity generated by the wind farm – such as when there are strong winds – can still be used. Oranje Wind Power II has various plans, including 600MW of onshore electrolysers (producing green hydrogen), 225MW of e-boilers for district heating and industrial applications, batteries and floating offshore solar energy.
The Government raised the ambition for offshore wind energy to 21GW around 2030. Combined, all the offshore wind farms planned under the Additional Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap will provide approximately 75% of Dutch electricity needs by 2030. Currently, approximately 2.5GW offshore wind capacity has been fully commissioned and a number of wind farms are under construction or have been granted a permit. The Additional Offshore Wind Energy Roadmap 2030 describes how and when designated wind farm zones will be developed. The next zone due to be licensed will be IJmuiden Ver (4GW).
The announcement of the Hollandse Kust West Site VI permit winner is planned for Thursday 15 December 2022 at the latest. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) supervised the tender on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy
