The House of Representatives of the Netherlands has voted in favour of carrying out further research to determine if new offshore wind zones can be added to increase the country’s target of having a total of 4.45GW of offshore wind generation capacity commissioned by 2023.
Earlier this month, two members of the House of Representatives, Liesbeth van Tongeren and Jan Vos, filed a motion claiming that the government should prioritise the increase in offshore wind capacity following the recent reductions in the Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) for this form of electricity generation.
The two MPs identified the 7GW IJmuiden Ver (IJmuiden Far) offshore wind farm zone as one of the areas to be further investigated and added to the portfolio.
The Netherlands has three offshore wind farm zones under development and scheduled for commissioning by 2023, the 1.4GW Borssele, the 1.4GW Hollandse Kust Zuid, and the 700MW Hollandse Kust Noord, with a combined capacity of 3.5GW.
In total, the Netherlands currently plans to have 4.45GW of commissioned offshore wind capacity by 2023 which is expected to help the country reach the target of meeting 16% of its demand through renewable energy sources.
The House of Representatives will today also discuss the possibility of raising the country’s renewable energy target to 30% by 2030.