Dutch Nearshore Wind Farm Completed

March 20, 2024, by Adnan Memija

Almost one year after installation started, the 24th and final nearshore turbine of Windplanblauw wind farm in the Netherlands has been installed. With both onshore and nearshore turbines now completed, the project is counting down to its official inauguration in August.

*Vattenfall/Windplanblauw/Paul Schraven*

Windplanblauw is a wind farm repowering project of Vattenfall and SwifterwinT, a local initiative of more than 170 agricultural entrepreneurs, residents, and turbine owners from the area.

Under the project, 74 wind turbines erected in the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad were replaced by 61 larger, more powerful units, of which 24 are built in the IJsselmeer Lake. They replace the 28 turbines that were previously located in the lake.

The two rows of GE Cypress 5.5 MW turbines have a combined capacity of 132 MW, producing the equivalent of electricity consumption of 130,000 Dutch households. Vattenfall owns 14 of the nearshore turbines.

Installation started in 2023 and was hampered by bad weather, with a period of strong northerly winds in the spring of that same year, followed by the stormiest July on record, Vattenfall said.

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This winter, bad weather pushed work back yet again, including a most unusual closing of the locks due to high water, said Vattenfall.

“Building nearshore is quite challenging from a technical perspective and this project definitely cost its share of blood, sweat, and tears, but I think we managed to create a worthy replacement of the Irene Vorrink wind farm, Windplanblauw’s well-loved predecessor,” said Matthew May, Project Manager.

“Windplanblauw nearshore turned out to be quite an elegant wind farm, something about the proportions of the turbines and its foundations rising above the water, the form of the blades.”