 Today, HRH the Prince of Orange accompanied by fourteen schoolchildren from Egmond aan Zee officially inaugurated the Netherlands's first wind farm in the North Sea. Blowing together into the special tube, the turbines started to turn, inaugurating the Netherlands' cleanest power plant. The Egmond aan Zee Offshore Wind Farm was constructed by Nuon and Shell on the initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The wind farm has actually been operational since the beginning of this year and has exhibited excellent performance to date. Thanks in part to the stormy weather of the first three months of 2007, during which there has been a great deal of wind, more than 111 million kilowatt hours of electricity have been produced. This is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 33,000 households.
During the official inauguration, Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven said: 'Due in part to its demonstration character, this wind farm is contributing to the ongoing sustainability of energy supplies. It is contributing directly by preventing the discharge of 140,000 tonnes of CO2 on a yearly basis and indirectly by the research programme designed to further our knowledge and experience, which will therefore contribute to innovation. I am convinced that without the further deployment of offshore wind energy, it will be impossible to meet the present Government's ambitious goals for sustainable energy. We must therefore put in place the procedures for licensing and subsidies that will bring about innovation and cost reductions.'
Shell Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer: 'We are concentrating on finding solutions to the climate problem. Wind energy is one option here. The onus is now on us to prove as quickly as possible that offshore wind energy is a profitable business so that we continue to invest in it'
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