Windplan Groen, a large onshore wind repowering development in the province of Flevoland, has reached a new milestone: all 11 participating wind farms have completed the development phase and 9 have reached Financial Close. The last two wind farms are expected to reach Financial Close around mid-December.
This means that the financing by banks is virtually complete for all 11 wind farms, comprising the wind farms Ansjovisstroom, Flevo Ventum, Hanze, Vires Venti, Hondtocht 3, Hoge Vaart Zuid, Kubbeweg 2, XY Wind, Oldebroekertocht 3, Olsterwind and Zeebiestocht II. Board chairman Wim Luijkx reported the financial news on Wednesday evening in a Windplan Groen online broadcast.
Now that this point has been reached, civil works such as road construction and the construction of wind turbines will continue to be prepared and carried out. The construction of the transformer station in Dronten is making steady progress and two wind farms have already dismantles their old turbines. Preparations for the construction of new wind turbines have also started at these farms.
Development process
More than 400, mostly farming, local residents in the project area are participating in Windplan Groen. More than 200 through the 11 participating wind farms, joined in the coordinating Windkoepel Groen association, and almost 200 through Windshare. In total, more than 400 local residents are therefore participating in Windplan Groen from the start.
The plan provides for 90 wind turbines in the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad. The 90 turbines will replace 98 old turbines with a total capacity of 168 MW in the area. The new turbines (initially 86) will be placed in line configurations.
The project was awarded the SDE+ subsidy in March 2020. All permits became irrevocable due to a positive ruling by the Council of State on 16 September 2020. Till then, the main share of work was performed by Windkoepel Groen. work. Besides the input of knowledge and experience from the participating parks, there was also an important role for the development specialists of Ventolines and an important contribution of Pondera in all preparatory studies and the EIA report.
After that, the wind farms themselves took the lead in the second part of the development phase, the tendering and contracting of the turbines and the infra-structural works. Project directors were appointed, who, supported by specialists from Topwind and Ventolines, conducted the negotiations and presented the results to the wind farms for decision-making. In addition to their own financial and legal specialists, Ventolines’ legal and financial specialists played an important coordinating and supporting role.
In order to ensure that the future wind turbines could be connected to the national grid, a decision was made to build a Closed Distribution System in Dronten. Together with an extension of Liander’s substation and a recent extension at Windnet Oost Flevoland, this will ensure that there is sufficient connection capacity for all turbines.
Different turbine suppliers
In the course of 2021, turbine supply contracts were signed with three different manufacturers. Two wind farms have opted for 15 Nordex turbines. Three wind farms have chosen 26 General Electric (GE) turbines and the remaining wind farms have chosen 45 Vestas turbines.
Civil works and cables
The civil works (roads and foundations) have been awarded to Van Gelder and Knipscheer. Van Gelder (GDS), Alsema and Van den Heuvel are responsible for the cable work.
The construction teams were also put together during the final phase of the development process. In addition to a construction team for the transformer station, three construction teams have now been put together to work with the manufacturers and contractors to ensure the smooth construction of the turbines. Here too, the wind farms themselves are responsible for the entire process. At the same time, a number of coordinating tasks have been assigned to Winkoepel Groen, such as contacting the authorities about all permits, a joint safety plan and providing information and communication to the local community.
The last wind turbines are expected to be delivered in 2023/2024. The total energy production will soon amount to 1830 GWh per year. This corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of more than 600,000 households. Source: Windplan Groen