After extensive preparation and three years of construction on land and sea, the grid connection for Hollandse Kust West Alpha is officially ready for commissioning. This means that the wind turbines, which will be located approximately 50 kilometers off the coast of Egmond aan Zee, can be connected to the 'offshore socket' of grid operator TenneT.
Multiple mains connections
The new connection is part of a long-term assignment from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate to TenneT to realize five standardized grid connections of 700 megawatts by 2024. Since 2019, a connection from sea to land has been completed every year. Sustainable electricity is already being brought onshore from the first platform for the Hollandse Kust Noord wind farm. Hollandse Kust West Alpha has now added grid connection number six, three months earlier than planned. The landfall is in Wijk aan Zee.
Now that the grid connection is ready for use, the wind farm operator Ecowende (a joint venture of Shell and Eneco) can connect the wind turbines in the offshore wind farm as soon as they are built. The wind farm is expected to be put into operation in 2026.
Roadmap 2023
Companies, governments, social organizations, interest groups and people have worked together to build wind farms on the Dutch North Sea coast in recent years. The ambitions were achieved on time, within budget and even almost without subsidy. No subsidy has been required from Hollandse Kust Zuid 1-2, the parks before that (Borselle) have received subsidy.
The offshore wind farms provide 15.8% of the current electricity supply for companies and people at home. That is more than we agreed 10 years ago in the Dutch Energy Agreement. Thanks to the successful approach to offshore wind, we can even accelerate in the coming years, so that offshore wind energy can supply 16% of clean energy without subsidies in 2030.
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