News & Media releases

Renewable power generation to serve more than 100,000 households

31/05/2005

First Dutch offshore windfarm gets green light for construction. The Hague/Amsterdam, 31st May 2005 - Shell and Dutch energy company Nuon have signed the final contracts for their joint realization of the first Dutch offshore wind farm, located at Egmond aan Zee, 10 miles outside the Dutch coast. The wind farm will be constructed in 2006. Yesterday, NoordzeeWind (a 50/50 joint venture between Shell and Nuon) awarded the construction contract to Bouwcombinatie Egmond, a joint venture between Dutch offshore contractor Ballast Nedam and Danish wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas.

Thirty-six wind turbines with an overall capacity of 108 Megawatts will be constructed 10 kilometres off the coast of Egmond aan Zee (the Netherlands). On a yearly basis, the wind turbines will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 100,000 Dutch households. From the end of 2006, the wind farm will start generating sustainable energy, which Nuon will supply to the Dutch market. The project involves an investment in excess of € 200 million.

The project is accompanied by a comprehensive research programme designed to increase knowledge about offshore wind energy. This will study the effects on both nature and the environment, as well as the technical aspects, such as turbine behaviour and integration into the electricity grid. This will help to increase expertise for the construction of larger wind farms further out to sea.

The Dutch government is supporting the project financially under the Electricity Production (Environmental Quality) Act (MEP) along with a subsidy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs' CO2 Reduction Plan. Finally, the Energy Investment Incentive facility (EIA) (a tax allowance) also applies.

"The development of offshore wind farms in Europe is in line with our strategy to continue to develop likely sources of sustainable energy," said Rein Willems, President of Shell Nederland. "As a learning project this wind farm is important for the Netherlands and the whole offshore industry. While Government subsidies remain critical for any industry in the early stages, the investment will bring economic competitiveness that much closer. And so the knowledge and experience we accumulate in this project will play a key role in making the ever increasing demand for energy even more sustainable."

Ludo van Halderen, Chief Executive Officer of Nuon said: "The construction of the wind farm is fully in line with Nuon's policy to make the energy supply more sustainable and to expand energy production in its core countries of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The wind farm off the coast of Egmond aan Zee offers a new opportunity for Dutch customers to access sustainable energy harnessed here in the Netherlands."

The initial construction work is planned at the end of 2005 with the installation of power cables between the grid connection point at Velsen and the wind farm's own transformer substation located on a site near the shore owned by Corus. The foundation piles of the wind turbines will be driven into the seabed during the spring of 2006, after which the wind turbines will be installed. Specialised ships will be used for this work.

Background information

Preparations and measurement programme

Preparations for this programme spanned several years. After the Dutch government selected NoordzeeWind as a partner in July 2002, intervening years have seen geological surveys, wind measurements and the compilation of an environmental effects report. Several projects were also developed to provide greater support for nature conservation.