RVO opens €45.5 million tender for geotechnical surveys at Nederwiek offshore wind zone

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has issued a tender for offshore geotechnical investigations at the Nederwiek Wind Farm Zone.

The contracts to be awarded under the tender, which is divided into two lots, are valued at €45.5 million in total.

Through the first lot, RVO will award a contract worth €11 million for a seabed cone penetration testing (CPT) and vibrocore campaign, including basic laboratory testing and reporting. Ecological soil and water sampling is also required for the investigation area at the Nederwiek Wind Farm Zone.

The second lot, which will see a contract award worth €34.5 million, is dedicated to a borehole campaign that includes in-situ downhole testing, and standard and advanced laboratory tests.

“The deliverables will be published for use by the participants in the concession tenders for these offshore Wind Farm Sites”, RVO states in the contract notice issued on 24 March.

The tender for geotechnical survey work is open for applications until 19 May, with contracts going into effect on 18 July this year and work expected to be completed in 2025.

The Nederwiek Wind Farm Zone is one of the three new offshore wind areas the Dutch Government designated last year.

The Zone, located 90 kilometres off the west coast of the Netherlands, comprises two areas, Nederwiek Zuid & Noord (North and South), and three project sites: the 2 GW Nederwiek Zuid I, the 2 GW Nederwiek Noord II, and the 2 GW Nederwiek Noord III.

Nederwiek Zuid I is scheduled to be auctioned off in the second quarter of 2025 and the offshore wind farm that will be built there is expected to come online in 2030.

Nederwiek Noord II and III are planned to be auctioned off in 2026 and are scheduled for commissioning in 2030 and 2031, respectively.

A final decision on the tendering schedule is expected in 2024.