Offshore wind farm inaugurated in Netherlands; BASF/Vattenfall/Allianz partnership
Recently, Dutch King Willem-Alexander jointly with board members of Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz officially inaugurated the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-4, said to be one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. The wind farm is in the North Sea, 18-36 km off the Dutch coast between the towns of Scheveningen and Zandvoort.
The 139 turbines have a total capacity of 1.5 GW, making it one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world. The annual electricity production is expected to equal the consumption of 1.5 million households.
Hollandse Kust Zuid is owned by Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz. The wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2024 and will be serviced out of the port of IJmuiden.
German chemical firm BASF, which uses renewable power to support chemical production in sites across Europe,
aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the year 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Replacing fossil-based electricity with renewable electricity is an important lever to further bring down emissions, it adds.
Oliver Bäte, CEO of Allianz: “Allianz invests policyholder funds in renewable energy and owns more than 100 wind and solar farms. I am delighted that today we are opening our first direct investment in an offshore wind farm, together with BASF and Vattenfall. This underlines the ability of partnerships to catalyse action and bring climate solutions to life.”
Insurance firm Allianz is committed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in its proprietary investment and Property&Casualty underwriting portfolios and already by 2030 within its own operations.
Several innovative techniques were used during the construction of Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-4, like a double bubble screen to dampen underwater noise during pile driving to limit the impact for harbour porpoises. Enlarged water replenishment holes in the foundations offer shelter for marine life inside the turbines, the first time the structure of a turbine itself is included in nature inclusive wind farm design. Boulders and rocks of varying sizes were used during the construction of scour protection. At several scour protection sites artificial rock reefs were added to make them more attractive to a wider number of fish, crabs and crustaceans.
Three turbines are fitted with recently developed recyclable blades. The resin used to ‘glue’ blades together will be easier to dissolve after the working life of the turbines, making it easier to disseminate the blades and reuse the different elements.
Hollandse Kust Zuid is a key project in the ambitious goals that Dutch government has set to combat climate change and to provide the Netherlands with renewable energy for the next generation.
Two offshore substations connect Hollandse Kust Zuid to the Dutch grid. These grid connections have been developed and will be operated by the Dutch Transmission System Operator TenneT. As part of the Dutch offshore wind policy grid connections are publicly funded, which ensures standardization and subsequent cost savings. It gives wind farm developers certainty that they will not have to adjust their designs later.
Facts
- Each turbine has a capacity of 11 MW. The tip height is 225 m above sea level
- Rotor diameter of 200 m
- Length of each blade: 97 m
- Weight of foundation: 735-955 tonnes
- Length of foundation: 62-75 m
- Diameter foundation: 7-8 m
- Seabed at a depth of 17-28 m
- 315 km of 66 kV inter array grid cables
- HKZ covers an area of 225 sq km
