The largest offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, and second worldwide, is ready. Today owner Ørsted announced that the construction of the Borssele 1 & 2 offshore wind farm, with an installed capacity of 752MW, has been completed. Borssele 1 & 2 provides enough green electricity to power one million Dutch households.
Borssele 1 & 2 is the first offshore wind farm for Ørsted in the Netherlands. In 2016, the developer won the tender for the development of the Borssele 1 & 2 wind zone, located approximately 23 km off the coast of Westkapelle, with a price of 72.7 euros per MWh.
Less than 9 months construction
The last turbine was installed at the beginning of September. The construction of the wind farm took place in less than 9 months. A total of 94 wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa with a capacity of 8 MW have been installed on monopile foundations in water depths varying between 14 and 36 meters. The main suppliers, besides Siemens Gamesa, were Sif, Bladt, EEW SPC and EEW OSB for the foundations and Nexans for the cables. The installation was carried out by DEME Offshore and Van Oord.
The wind farm is connected to the onshore high-voltage grid at Borssele by TenneT. Ørsted carries out the maintenance of the wind farm from a new O&M location in Vlissingen.
“This is an important milestone for the green transformation and for Ørsted. We’re proud that we’ve commissioned our first offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, who is among the global frontrunners in the energy transition. With Borssele 1 & 2 as the first step, we wish to make a significant contribution to the Dutch transition from fossil to renewable energy. We’re proud that we completed this large-scale clean energy project on time and within budget during the COVID-19 pandemic, while maintaining our focus on health and safety.”
Steven Engels, director of the Netherlands at Ørsted: “It’s great that we now can deliver enough green electricity to power one million Dutch households. Ørsted has delivered what it promised back in 2016, when we won the tender with a ground-breaking bid price. Realising the first project of the large-scale offshore wind roll out programme in the Netherlands is an important milestone for the Dutch energy transition.”
Borssele 1 & 2 is the first in a series of large wind farms that the Netherlands wants to realize, says Ørsted. In addition, the company also wants to contribute to the CO2 reduction of the industry in Zeeland. For example, with the green hydrogen project that we recently announced with Yara.
