Windplan Groen was officially put into use on March 28. This concerns 11 wind farms with 86 wind turbines in Eastern Flevoland. The installed capacity is 515 MW, good for approximately 1.8 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) annually. That is as much as the entire province of Flevoland consumes per year. This makes Windplan Groen the largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands in terms of production and installed capacity. A feat has been achieved by bringing together and keeping 400 owners and initiators of 11 wind farms together.
Wind plan Green
Windkoepel Groen (WKG) is the initiator of Windplan Groen, one of the four designated wind energy areas in Flevoland. More than 80 percent of the residents in this area own the plan (400 farmers and residents). Together with the authorities, they have formed one Green Wind Plan around Dronten and Lelystad. Important players in the development process were project advisor Ventolines and independent advisor Pondera, who carried out the entire EIA process.
“ NedZero is very proud of the initiators, stakeholders and governments involved. Together we bring clean, cheap and geopolitically sensible energy to the Netherlands.”
Attention to the environment
The project excels in its attention to the environment. In addition to professional process communication with local residents during the development, construction and management of the wind farms, substantial financial participation also takes place. Every year, more than € 1.1 million flows to the area through a bond fund for local residents and two local foundations: Stichting Windfonds Dronten and Stichting Windplan Groen Fonds . The first foundation finances measures and projects that improve the living environment and contribute to achieving climate goals. The second foundation supports vulnerable people in the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad, who need a helping hand and for whom government regulations are not inadequate.
“Green Wind Plan has an impact on the environment in Flevoland. That is why we have committed ourselves from the start to connecting with local residents. We want to be a good neighbor, even though we know that we cannot make everyone happy with our turbines. At the same time, we can be proud of the large volume of sustainable electricity that we put on the electricity grid here in the polder.”
Quirky feat
The basis for the success of Winddome Groen has been laid in bringing together and keeping the initiators of the 11 wind farms together. This was signed by the consultancy organization Ventolines, which established the broad partnership through a multitude of mutual agreements. A feat. Ventolines also developed a central 'socket' on the high-voltage network for eight of the eleven wind farms, the so-called Closed Green Distribution System (GDG) . This GDG was officially put into use on March 10, 2023.
“Our advantage is that we have experience in completing large, complex processes and have all the expertise in-house to solve complicated cases. Whether it concerns organizational, legal or technical challenges. Windplan Groen could only succeed with an integrated approach.”
Keep listening
Now that Windplan Groen is operational, the attention for the environment is certainly not decreasing. Policy has been developed together with the municipality to take steps when local residents report comments or complaints. This policy is not only aimed at enforcing legal standards, but also at the experience of local residents and how to deal with them. The latter is described in the so-called 'Experience Framework'. This has partly led to active environmental management and input for the wind dome to implement improvements. Even if complaints lie outside the legal responsibility of Windplan Groen.
Continuous improvements
The joint approach with the municipality has already led to concrete results. For example, in response to reports from the area about cast shadows, various improvements have been implemented. A better understanding has also emerged of where and when cast shadows can occur and especially when this is not allowed. Reports about obstacle lighting have immediately helped with better adjustment of that lighting and have led to the introduction of a system whereby the lighting only comes on at night when there are aircraft in the area. This system will become operational for the entire Windplan Groen this year.
“I think it is very important that the municipality, wind farms and local residents are good neighbors. This means that we not only enforce standards, but also pay attention to what falls within the standard; the perception that local residents have of wind turbines and how we deal with them.”
In addition to Ventolines and the Municipality of Dronten, Windplan Groen has been made possible by 400 owners, the initiators and the management of the wind farms Anschovisstroom , Hanze , Hoge Vaart Zuid , Hondtocht , Kubbeweg , Meeuwentocht , Oldebroekertocht , Olsterwind , Vires Venti , XY Wind and Zeebiestocht and many suppliers and consultants. In addition, Windshare played an important role, as did the Province of Flevoland, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate, and the Ministry of the Interior.
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