As per the tender rules, the Hollandse Kust Zuid 3&4 are required to be fully operational within five years.
Image: Vattenfall to build Dutch offshore wind farms. Photo: Courtesy of David Kaspar Willmann/Pixabay.
Vattenfall has won a tender for the construction of the Dutch offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) 3 & 4, with a combined capacity of 760MW.
Offshore construction of the wind farm is scheduled to begin in 2022. As per the tender rules, the Hollandse Kust Zuid 3&4 are required to be fully operational within five years. The wind farm is expected to be completed in 2023.
Prior to the wind farm, Vattenfall had also secured the tender to build the Hollandse Kust Zuid 1 & 2 wind farms. Together, the HKZ 1 – 4 will generate about 1.5GW of clean electricity, which is enough to light up 3 million Dutch homes. The HKZ 3 & 4, which will be located in the Dutch North Sea, will be the first non-subsidised offshore wind farms in the world, when commissioned.
Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall said: “This is excellent news for Vattenfall, our partners and the Dutch energy transition. It means a significant step for Vattenfall in view of our ambition to make fossil-free living possible within one generation and to grow in renewable energy production.
“The Netherlands is an important market for us and this will be one of our biggest offshore projects. We are looking forward to contribute with this project to the transformation of the Dutch energy system.”
As the wind farms are non-subsidised, Vattenfall will pay nearly €2m (£2.7m) per year to the Netherlands as ground rent for seabed area where the HKZ 3 & 4 will be located.
The electricity cable connecting the wind farm to the mainland will be installed by the transmission system operator TenneT.
Netherlands plans to generate 70% of electricity from renewable resources by 2030
As per the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, the country has committed to generating nearly 70% of its electricity needs, equalling 84TWh from renewable resources by 2030. More than half of the targeted capacity (49TWh) is expected to come from offshore wind farms. The remaining 35TWh is expected to come from onshore wind farms and solar plants.
Vattenfall senior vice president and business area wind head Gunnar Groebler said: “Winning the bid for Hollandse Kust Zuid 3&4 is a result of our continuous efforts along our entire value chain and the solid track record and portfolio approach of our company.
“Adding to that, working collaboratively with our partners in the supply chain has enabled us to hand in a state-of-the-art proposal for this project. We can bundle now the projects Hollandse Kust Zuid 1&2 and 3&4 which is a great advantage leading to further optimization and synergies.”