Greenchoice, Windunie and ABN Amro Energy Transition Fund have reached financial close for Greenport Venlo Wind Farm with the help of ING and its Groenbank. In addition, the main contractors have also been announced. Construction of the wind farm will start this summer.
Dutch energy company Greenchoice, cooperative Windunie and ABN Amro Energy Transition are the initiators of the Greenport Venlo Wind Farm. The project is realised on Greenport Venlo, an area comprising industrial estates, nature areas and a sand extracting area. The wind farm will comprise 8 wind turbines, 5 of which to be located north of the A67 highway and 3 between the A67 and A73 highways. The plan was given the green light in December 2019.
Two types of turbines
Nordex has been selected to supply the wind turbines. The German manufacturer will provide two types of wind turbines. The turbines north of the A67 have a capacity of 4.8 MW and a tip height of 201 meters. The three turbines that will be built between the A67 and the A73 have a capacity of 3.6 MW and a tip height of 194 meters. Construction will start at the beginning of 2022. The turbines are planned to be operational before the end of that year. Together they will annually generate an amount of electricity that is comparable to the energy consumption of approximately 30,000 households. Greenchoice wants to use this electricity locally as much as possible.
Civil works
VolkerWind has been contracted to carry out the civil works. The company has already carried out some preparatory work and will also take care of the rest of the civil works, such as the construction of the foundations and crane positions. The start of these works is foreseen in the summer of 2021.
Initially foundations for 8 turbines
For the time being, foundations will only be built for eight turbines. This has to do with the possible disruption of the coverage of a defense radar system. A minor disruption by the turbines is allowed as long as the coverage of the radar system remains at least 90%. In an earlier phase, the project complied with this standard. The turbines were selected on that basis. Later, in a recalculation, the coverage was found to be lower than 90% with the installation of nine turbines. With eight turbines, the project does meet the Defense standard and a positive statement has been issued for this. This is a setup without turbine 2 (the second in the line counted from the northwest).
The wind farm owners are in collaboration with the province of Limburg and the Ministry of Defense to look for ways to ensure that the radar coverage for nine turbines also meets the standard. Approval has to been obtained from the Minister within one year, otherwise it will not be possible anymore to fit in the ninth turbine. Source: Windparkgreenportvenlo.nl
