How are things going with the connections for the Hollandse Kust wind farms and for the IJmuiden Ver and Nederwiek 2 wind energy areas? An overview of TenneT's recent work. (Pictures: TenneT)
Maasvlakte offshore grid projects
The projects on the Maasvlakte are Net op zee IJmuiden Ver Beta, -IJmuiden Ver Gamma and -Nederwiek 2. TenneT uses these underground high-voltage connections to transport sustainable energy, which will be generated in offshore wind farms in the future, to the Maasvlakte. There, TenneT connects the connections to the national high-voltage grid via the new Amaliahaven high-voltage substation.
For the IJVER and Nederwiek wind farm areas, three 2GW connections are needed. From the IJmuiden Ver wind energy area, these are the Offshore Grid IJmuiden Ver Alpha , Offshore Grid IJmuiden Ver Beta and Offshore Grid IJmuiden Ver Gamma . From the Nederwiek wind energy area, these are the Offshore Grid Nederwiek 1 , Offshore Grid Nederwiek 2 and Offshore Grid Nederwiek 3 .
New 380 kV high-voltage substation on the Maasvlakte
TenneT is building a new 380 kV high-voltage substation on the Maasvlakte. The new high-voltage substation 'Amaliahaven' will be connected to the existing high-voltage network on the Maasvlakte by an also newly built above-ground high-voltage line.
On Monday 23 September, contractor SPIE, together with subcontractor Kandt, installed the first pile for this new high-voltage line, after the municipality of Rotterdam had issued the environmental permit on 18 September. The permit for the new station had already been granted earlier.
The construction of the new station is necessary because the existing station on the Maasvlakte at the Coloradoweg (called station 'Maasvlakte') no longer allows for new connections. After construction, the Amaliahaven high-voltage station offers possibilities for, among other things, connecting wind farms at sea.
This mainly concerns the offshore wind farms in the wind energy areas IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma and Nederwiek 2. The green energy generated by these yet to be developed wind farms comes ashore on the Maasvlakte and goes via the converter stations of the same name to the high-voltage station Amaliahaven. This green energy is mainly intended for the sustainability of the industry in the port area, for example through electrification or conversion to hydrogen.
Converter stations yet to be built
On land, the new converter stations of IJmuiden Ver Beta, IJmuiden Ver Gamma and the high-voltage substation Amaliahaven are located next to each other.
In consultation with the Port of Rotterdam Authority, a location was found for the Amaliahaven high-voltage substation centrally on the Maasvlakte: between Dardanellenstraat and Prinses Amaliahaven, approximately 700 metres from the existing high-voltage substation.
The converter stations of the Net op zee projects IJmuiden Ver Beta and IJmuiden Ver Gamma, which are yet to be built, will be located directly south of the Amaliahaven station. The converter station of Nederwiek 2 will be located southwest of the Slufter on the Maasvlakte.
The Amaliahaven high-voltage substation is expected to be put into operation at the end of 2026.
Green compensation to start in early 2025
For the shifting of the work area on the Leeghwaterweg in Velsen-Noord, for the connections for the Hollandse Kust wind farms, 0.3 hectares of greenery and trees had to be removed at the beginning of 2022. This greenery will be compensated for and a note with recommendations has been drawn up for this in collaboration with residents and politicians. These measures will be implemented by the municipality of Velsen during the coming planting season in 2025.
After the work, the area will be greened again. However, not all trees can return to the same place.
Sound measurements transformer station Wijk aan Zee
Because there are already numerous sources of noise in the area, measurements have been taken at fixed points in the vicinity of the transformer station in Wijk aan Zee and Beverwijk since 2020. Based on these measurements, TenneT can objectively determine the influence of the transformer station on the ambient noise. Measurement six (of ten) has now started.
The first four (zero) measurements were taken prior to the commissioning of the transformer station. Since the end of last year, the voltage of the current from the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm has been brought from 220,000 volts to 380,000 volts at the transformer station. This was measured in the period between December last year and mid-February and processed in the report for the fifth measurement. The same measurement is now being repeated, but with the leaves still on the trees.
More information about the measurements and previous noise reports can be found via the following link: Fifth noise measurement: humming sound does not come from TenneT transformer station
