First subsidy-free offshore wind farm starts taking shape

The offshore work started earlier this month with the installation of the scour protection at the first of the 140 monopile foundation locations at the 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) wind farm offshore the Netherlands.

Being developed by Vattenfall, HKZ is the first zero-subsidy offshore wind farm in the world to reach this stage of development.

The wind farm will also be the largest in the world once fully commissioned in 2023.

HKZ will also be the first offshore wind farm in the world to feature Siemens Gamesa’s  Siemens Gamesa SG 11.0-200 DD wind turbines.

Vattenfall plans to start the installation of the wind farm’s monopiles without the transition pieces on 1 July. The monopiles will be installed by Seaway Strashnov.

The monopile installation will continue, with a winter break, into the summer of 2022.

The installation of the turbines will start in April 2022 and run until April 2023. Cadeler’s Wind Osprey will load the turbines at Sif’s Maasvlakte facility and install them at the site.

Works on the offshore grid will run from March 2022 to April 2023.

The wind farm’s network consists of two offshore transformer platforms, each with a base capacity of 700 MW, and two 220 kV export cables per platform which are 30-40 kilometres long.

Grid operator TenneT is developing the offshore platforms and the connection to their onshore site at Maasvlakte. The cables connecting Vattenfall’s turbines to the TenneT platforms will be installed in 2022 and 2023.

Hollandse Kust Zuid is expected to start generating electricity in 2022. By mid-2023, all 140 wind turbines are planned to be operational and the wind farm fully commissioned.

The jetty at the Port of IJmuiden that will be used for the transport of staff and equipment during the construction, and operation and maintenance phases of HKZ was officially handed over to Vattenfall on 10 June.

Located right next to Vattenfall’s new operations and maintenance hub, which is currently under construction, the jetty has space for three crew transfer vessels (CTVs) that will transport personnel and small equipment to the wind farm.

The jetty was developed and commissioned by Port of IJmuiden N.V., together with De Boer & De Groot Civiele Werken. The daily transfer of personnel and equipment from IJmuiden is provided by Windcat Workboats.