Gigantic new offshore wind farms could power millions of homes in the Netherlands

Pension fund ABP wants to invest directly in the Netherlands in the large-scale generation and management of wind energy in the North Sea. It is therefore starting a partnership, ‘Noordzeker’, through which the fund intends to bid for large projects to build wind farms in the North Sea, ABP announced in a press release. According to NOS, the first project, ‘IJmuiden Ver’, involves 4 gigawatts of electricity, enough for over 5.5 million households.

The pension fund intends to play an influential role in North Sea energy plans in the coming years. In addition to the construction of wind farms, these include energy storage such as hydrogen projects or large-scale batteries. ABP’s plans are part of a significant shift from investing in fossil to renewable energy.

“In this way, we want to contribute to the energy transition in the Netherlands and ensure a good pension,” said Harmen van Wijnen, ABP’s board chairman. “Within Noordzeker, we will work with knowledge institutes, companies, civil society organizations, and the government.” IJmuiden Ver is located about 60 kilometers off the coast near IJmuiden and is about 200 square kilometers in size. The winning tender gets to build and manage the wind farm. The government will start the tender in late 2023. It is expected that in the first half of 2024, it will be apparent to whom the project will be awarded.

RWE

RWE, meanwhile, has received the permit to build another large-scale offshore wind farm – Hollandse Kust West (HKW) VII. The site is located about 53 kilometers off the Dutch coast. At the site, RWE will be able to supply around 760 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy – enough to supply nearly one million Dutch households with green power, the company said in a press release.

“This is an important step towards growing our global offshore wind capacity to 8 gigawatts by 2030″, said Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of Offshore Wind at RWE Renewables. “Based on our 20 years of experience in developing, building, and operating offshore wind farms, we have delivered an initial concept for the project. We look forward to realizing this wind farm together with the local communities.”

ABP says it is keen to play a role in generating more wind energy in the North Sea. Van Wijnen: “By investing in wind energy in the North Sea, we want to contribute to sufficient and sustainably generated energy for everyone in the Netherlands. Now and in the future. We now see how important it is to generate more of our ‘own’ energy in the Netherlands. That makes us less dependent on other countries but also gives us more influence on the energy cost that now affects so many Dutch households.”