World’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm starts to produce power

The world’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm, the 1.5GW Hollandse Kust Zuid located off the coast of the Netherlands, has begun generating electricity and feeding it into the Dutch electricity grid.

Swedish power company Vattenfall won the right to build all four allotments in the Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) offshore wind zone in 2018 and 2019, and its bid meant that no government financial assistance was requested or needed.

The first turbines were shipped out to the wind farm in April aboard Cadeler’s windfarm Installation Vessel (WIV) Wind Osprey from the Port of Rotterdam.

Four months later, Vattenfall announced late last week that 36 out of a total of 140 turbines have been installed at Hollandse Kust Zuid, with the final turbine to be installed in the second quarter of 2023. And it also confirmed that the project has begun generating first power to the Dutch grid while still in its testing phase.

“We are immensely proud to reach this milestone,” said Ian Bremner, Hollandse Kust Zuid project director.

“The delivery of power to the Dutch grid is an important moment, not just for us but also for all our partners, suppliers, contractors and all other parties who helped to get to this point.

“With Hollandse Kust Zuid we are working on the largest and first subsidy-free offshore wind farm in the world. It is wonderful to see our energization and first power plan come to fruition and we look forward to completing the wind farm in 2023.”

Consisting of 140 11MW wind turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa, the 1.5GW wind farm is owned by Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz, and when it begins full operations some time in 2023 will generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 1.5 million Dutch households.