Baker & McKenzie: Borssele I & II Back On Track By May 2016

The Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp must act quickly to take out the provisions related to offshore wind power generation from the recently rejected STROOM bill, and run them through both Houses of Parliament via a new draft bill to minimise the delays in the Borssele I & II offshore wind projects, according to Baker & McKenzie Energy, Mining and Infrastructure (EMI) Group.

Earlier this week, the Senate voted down the STROOM legislative package. The reason for this rejection had nothing to do with the Dutch offshore wind tenders. The Senate balked at the controversial unbundling paragraphs also contained in the package. But it had no statutory alternative but to reject the package wholesale.

The package is essential to the tenders as it creates the legal framework for the construction of the offshore grid by the Dutch TSO, TenneT. Without it, the first two governmental site-decisions, containing the terms for the construction and operation of the future offshore wind farms, also cannot be taken. This creates too much uncertainty to proceed with the tenders at this time.

The tenders for Borssele sites I & II were originally scheduled to open around mid-January. This date will now be delayed further, but the extent of this delay is as of yet unknown.

The minister expects to be able to present this new bill to Parliament by the end of February 2016, and anticipates that a total delay of half a year may be involved.

Whether this will actually be the case, depends on the expediency with which the Minister can guide this essential piece of legislation through the legislative process, according to the group.

Baker & McKenzie says that the Minister is known for his political acumen and there is a great deal of goodwill in both Houses to get this on the statute books and run the tenders as soon as practicable. Given all this, the group expects that a shorter delay is more likely, with the projects picking up where they had left off in May 2016.