Vattenfall Picks Hollandse Kust Zuid 1&2 O&M Base

Vattenfall has selected the Port of IJmuiden as its home base for operations and maintenance (O&M) activities for the Hollandse Kust Zuid 1&2 offshore wind farm in the Netherlands.

Vattenfall said it opted for the Port of IJmuiden due to its proximity to the Hollandse Kust Zuid site, as well as other future wind farms.

The two parties are currently developing the necessary facilities in the IJmond harbor area, where the service center will house an office for the staff, a storage room for spare parts and a workshop, while there will also be room to create landings for crew transfer vessels (CTVs).

According to the company, the service center will be an energy-efficient building that is as self-sufficient as possible with solar panels installed on a green roof. Other possibilities being examined are heat pumps and other energy-neutral applications.

Construction is expected to start in early 2022 and some 40 people are expected to work at the site after completion.

“We just started the first activities for the wind farm,” said Gijs Nijsten, Development Manager for the project.

“It’s still early days yet, and it will take several years before the wind farm is ready to start supplying electricity. Even so, this is a very important development. With a wind farm as large as this in particular, we need to have a good place where we can do our work to ensure that the wind farm will perform at an optimum level.”

Located 22km from the coast, the 700MW Hollandse Kust Zuid 1&2 will be the world’s first offshore wind project to be built without public subsidy. It is expected to be completed in 2022.