Koning Willem-Alexander bij de opening van Windpark Krammer - Foto © Frank van Beek
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With 34 enormous wind turbines on and around the Krammersluizen, Windpark Krammer in Bruinisse is now good for about 102 megawatts of green electricity per year. This is comparable to the energy requirements of 100,000 households, but they will not benefit from it for the time being. The first buyer of the new green electricity is a consortium of companies consisting of Philips, DSM, Google and Nouryon.

“Sustainability is an integral part of our strategy”, says Henk Valk, CEO of Philips Benelux. “Green electricity fits in with our ambition to be CO2-neutral worldwide by 2020. Here, too, we are making an important contribution to improving the lives of billions of people. All our activities in the Netherlands are powered by Dutch wind energy, partly thanks to this wind farm.”

For Philips, the opening of Windpark Krammer is an important milestone. Together with Windpark Bouwdokken at Werkeiland Neeltje Jans, which has been supplying the first green electricity since March 2018, this means that 100% of Philips’ activities in the Netherlands are driven by Dutch wind energy, according to the company. The Krammer and Bouwdokken wind farms in the Netherlands and the Los Mirasoles wind farm in the United States generate more than half of the total electricity requirements of the health technology company.

Citizens’ initiative

Windpark Krammer is considered to be the largest citizens’ initiative in the Netherlands. The almost 5,000 members of the Deltawind (South Holland) and Zeeuwind (Zeeland) energy cooperatives started planning the development of Windpark Krammer in 2009. Construction began in February 2017. Windpark Krammer is located in the Natura 2000 area. The design of the wind farm takes into account the preservation and protection of the flora and fauna in the area.

Purchasing consortium

Philips, DSM, Google, and Nouryon have jointly established a purchasing consortium for green energy. The four companies consume a considerable amount of energy in the Netherlands. By working together, they are making an important contribution to achieving the Netherlands’ renewable energy target of 14% by 2020.

In October 2016 and January 2017, the companies concluded long-term contracts that enabled the construction of the Krammer Wind Farm and the Bouwdokken Wind Farm. The two wind farms together have a total capacity of more than 140 MW, enough to supply approximately 140,000 households with electricity.