Dutch tender awards sites for 4 GW of offshore wind parks

The Dutch government has awarded permits to two consortia to build and operate 4 GW of offshore wind parks in the IJmuiden Ver zone off the west coast of the country.

The permits cover two sites, Alpha and Beta, in the North Sea, each of which will accommodate at least 2 GW of turbine capacity, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) said on Tuesday.

The rights to IJmuiden Ver Alpha were allocated to the renewables arm of British utility SSE PLC (LON:SSE), Dutch pension fund ABP and its asset manager APG. The trio, known as the Noordzeker consortium, has proposed installing a wind farm of around 2 GW about 62 km (38.5 mi) off the port city of IJmuiden in North Holland province. They will pay EUR 1 million annually over a period of 40 years.

The consortium said it will look to refine its proposal before deciding whether to move forward with the development, which should be known by July. The project will be subject to a final investment decision by late 2025.

Meanwhile, Swedish utility Vattenfall and Danish investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) have secured the right to develop IJmuiden Ver Beta and will pay EUR 20 million a year over the same 40-year period.

Through their joint venture (JV) Zeevonk, the partners will build the 2-GW offshore complex alongside a 50-MWp floating solar park. Additionally, they plan to install a 1-GW electrolyser at Maasvlakte, within the Port of Rotterdam, which will source electricity from the wind park to produce green hydrogen for hard-to-abate industries. The offshore solar and wind farms will use the same grid-connection infrastructure.

The 4-GW tender was launched in February. The two IJmuiden Ver wind farms are expected to start supplying power to the Dutch grid in 2029 or 2030. Their combined output will be equal to roughly 14% of the current electricity consumption in the Netherlands.

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