2023-12-21 14:41:40
Advantage due to Dutch approach
The fact that production is going so smoothly is all due to the Dutch approach in which all parties involved have a task that they are good at. Grid operator Tennet ensures standardization and scale, says Marco Kuijpers of Tennet. It is his organization that installs the ‘sockets’ on the high seas. The NWEA members (energy companies, maritime construction companies and wind turbine manufacturers) set up the wind turbines and put the plugs in the sockets. The central government arranges all permits.
Standardization is also the norm for the planned projects, from the contract form to the technology. This is crucial to provide certainty to commercial companies; they then know exactly which specifications the wind turbines and the network must meet. Long-term contracts give them certainty to invest in materials and personnel.
Concerns about rising costs
Tennet is also struggling with rising costs. The planned expansion of the North Sea network will cost almost twice as much over the next 25 years as previously thought, mainly due to higher material costs. Rapid technological development also leads to higher costs. Recently, wind turbines have been getting bigger every two years, requiring increasingly larger ships to install them. Three hundred companies have now developed the North Seas Standard, in which they agree that wind turbines must remain under 305 meters. Vos calls on a new cabinet to promote that standard in Europe.
PVV profit does not stop development
Other potential risks for the sector lie in The Hague, where the political winds have been blowing from a different direction since the elections. The PVV, for example, does not want to fill the sea with wind turbines, because that would leave no room for fishermen. Meanwhile, nuclear power plants are gaining popularity.
But not much will change for offshore wind in the next ten years, Kuijpers and Vos expect. “This train has not been in the station for a long time,” says Kuijpers from Tennet. His organization has already concluded all contracts for expanding the power network, so that the connections are ready in time for all new wind turbines.
Nuclear energy is just a tiny thumb
And what about the discussion about nuclear energy? Kuijpers does not give his opinion on that. Tennet must simply implement what politicians decide, he says. Vos also keeps a low profile. “I’m not going to discuss it,” says the wind industry advocate.
But he wants to give a little tip of the veil. When Tennet is ready in ten years, there will be a network with a transport capacity of 21 gigawatts on the North Sea. In England they are now building a number of nuclear power stations, the largest of which has a capacity of ‘only’ 3.2 gigawatts, says Vos.
By connecting the Dutch North Sea network to the British grid, both countries can use electricity from each other if one has too much and the other too little. For relatively little money, Tennet adds a lot of security of supply, says Kuijpers.
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The more important offshore wind becomes, the greater the risk of sabotage
The North Sea will become increasingly full of wind turbines in the coming years. But all that energy infrastructure is vulnerable to sabotage, especially with a war on the European continent.
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