Dutch HKW offshore wind tender could serve as blueprint for other countries, industry says

The requirements for the Dutch Hollandse Kust West (HKW) tender could serve as an impetus to other countries to prioritise ecology in offshore wind tenders and to developers to voluntarily add ecological measures in their future offers, according to speakers from RWE Renewables and TotalEnergies at Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam.

Both RWE Renewables and TotalEnergies have placed bids in the tender that recently closed, for both HKW Site VI and HKW Site VII, with RWE winning the rights to develop the HKW Site VII, for which system integration was one of the competitive elements.

Site VI, which was awarded to Shell and Eneco, was designated by the Dutch government for an offshore wind farm that would incorporate nature protection, compensation and enhancement measures.

This, according to the speakers at the Opportunities in Offshore Wind conference session on 30 November, is something that could serve to inform other countries’ tenders and motivate developers to add these kinds of solutions and measures to their bids.

“Congratulations to the Dutch government for the tender they have put in place for HKW. It is a game-changer. The Netherlands is really a model for other countries for developing these offshore wind projects and really innovate”, said Wilfried Vandersippe, Head of Business Development Offshore Wind at TotalEnergies. 

Vandersippe said that this way of thinking, which involves system integration and integrating innovation into the bid concept, was important for the developers as well, in terms of looking at how to develop future offshore wind outside the Netherlands and in the rest of the world.

Further in the conversation, Wilfried Vandersippe highlighted that one of TotalEnergies’ objectives is being positive on biodiversity and that the company is already heavily focused on circularity. From the perspective of opportunities, this provides opportunities for the NGOs, universities, and companies working in this domain, according to Vandersippe.

Speaking about the latest Dutch tender, Renske Ytsma, Director Offshore Wind Development Continental Europe at RWE Renewables, said that RWE has a very concrete target of having all its assets to to have a net-positive effect on ecology in the future, which is part of the company’s Growing Green strategy.

“I think that is also why it will not surprise anyone that we have also participated in Site VI of Hollandse Kust West. We have submitted what I think is a very, very good bid. For HKW Site VI, we have applied technologies that we are already testing today. We are already testing black blades and technologies like vibro-piling to reduce the noise emissions below water”, Renske Ytsma said.

“I really believe we should look at ecology like we do at safety, share knowledge as much as possible and bring us all together”.

On RWE’s Growing Green strategy, Ytsma said it involves transformation of the entire company as well as the decision to invest EUR 50 billion by the end of this decade in technology supporting the green energy transition, the lion share of which will go into offshore wind.

This is only a small part of what was discussed during the Opportunities in Offshore Wind session at Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference, which also saw an interesting discussion on the supply chain and reaching the increased targets, with speakers from Van Oord and Damen providing insights from the offshore construction and vessel markets.

Watch the full conference session on OEEC On Demand: