Nordex Group will be supplying the wind turbines for the 33 MW Den Tol Wind Farm located east of Netterden, close to the Dutch-German border. Nordex will supply nine N117/3600 turbines. Installation of the turbines is scheduled to start in October 2021. The wind farm is due to be completed in spring 2022.
At the end of January, the Den Tol project reached financial close, after approximately 20 years of development. The total investment is 43 million euros, most of which is financed by a bank (ASN Bank ed.).
Lengthy procedures
The wind farm is an initiative of a number of agricultural families who wanted to make the region more sustainable and were looking for activities to strengthen the farming business, with the support of Windunie Development. They started development in 2001. However, the project has seen many setbacks in procedures. It received a lot of opposition from Stichting TegenWind and the German nature organization NABU Naturschutzstation Niederrhein. The wind farm is located north of the Natura 2000 area “Unterer Niederrhein” in Germany.
Until recently, all decisions were irrevocable except for one: the Flora and Fauna Act exemption. In October 2020, a decision by the Council of State finally removed the last obstacle. During the first two full years that the wind farm is in use, the numbers of collision victims of a number of bird species must be monitored; in the period from November to February at least once a week and in the period from March to May at least twice a week.
Nordex N117 turbines
Nordex supplies 9 Nordex N117 wind turbines in 3.675 MW operating mode. The turbines will have 120 metre tubular steel towers and are installed on special foundations so that the final hub height will amount to 125 metres. At this height the typical wind speeds for a European inland site stand at 6.8 m/s. The order also includes a Premium Service contract for the turbines covering a period of 25 years. The initiators expect an annual yield of 9.8 million kilowatt hours per turbine, Nordex said.
In addition to turbine supplier Nordex, Van Hattum en Blankevoort, Meiland Azewijn and Watt Infra are involved as contractors for the construction. Green Trust is responsible for construction management. Construction at the site is planned for March.
