Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Zone, Site V

The tender to develop the Wind Farm Site V was open till 30 April 2020, 17:00h CEST.

Announcement date result tender for Hollandse Kust (noord)

On 29 July 2020, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy plans to announce the result of the tender Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V after closing of the Dutch stock exchanges.

Several applications received

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) has received several applications for the subsidy-free tender for the construction of a North Sea wind farm in the Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Zone. RVO will assess these applications and strives to announce the winner of the permit within 13 weeks.

The Ministerial Order for permitting offshore wind energy

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy published the Ministerial Order for permitting offshore wind energy Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V on 17 December 2019 in the Government Gazette. On the 23^rd of December 2019 an amended version of was published in the Government Gazette. The publication of this order is in Dutch. An English translation is available. This translation is an unofficial document: it is only provided for convenience, rights do not apply.

Policy Rule amendment permit HKNV

On 7 April 2020 the Policy Rule on amendment to an offshore wind energy permit for Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V was published in the Government Gazette. An unofficial English translation is available. This translation is an unofficial document: it is only provided for convenience, rights do not apply. In case the winner wants to change the project the winner must take the policy rule into account.

Ruling by The Council of State

On Wednesday 13 May 2020, the Council of State ruled on the decisions for the Offshore Grid Hollandse Kust (noord) and (west Alpha). These decisions are necessary for the connection to the national high-voltage grid of the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (Noord) and the northern part of the offshore wind farm Hollandse Kust (west Alpha).

The Council of State rules that the offshore platforms, the underground cable systems, and the transformer substation on the industrial estate near Wijk aan Zee may be built. The decision of the Council of State can be read via the website of the Council of State.

Permit irrevocable

One party lodged a notice of objection with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) relating to this decision to issue permit to CrossWind. The party has now withdrawn their objection. As a result, the permits are irrevocable from 4 December 2020.

Result tender for Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V

On 29 July 2020, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy announced the permits for Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V has been issued to CrossWind C.V., a consortium comprising Shell and Eneco.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency received 2 applications for this tender (in alphabetical order):

All applications were assessed to ensure they fulfil the requirements in the Ministerial Order with respect to:

• Technical feasibility
• Economic feasibility
• Financial feasibility
• Planning (ability to construct the wind farm within 4 years)
• Fulfil the requirements of the Wind Farm Site Decisions

All applications met these requirements. In the next step, a comparative assessment was conducted. Applications were assessed according to the following criteria:
a) The knowledge and experience of the parties involved
b) The quality of the design of the wind farm
c) The capacity of the wind farm
d) The social costs
e) The quality of the inventory and analysis of the risks
f) The quality of the measures to assure Cost Efficiency

For a part of criteria d and criteria e, and f, which accounts for 50% of the total score and are decisive for the weighting, a group of independent experts advised RVO on the scoring. These criteria's are divided into categories: stimulation of innovation benefiting the integration of future wind farms in the Dutch energy system; (financial) risk and mitigation during the construction and the operational period of the wind farm.

The expert committees established an assessment system prior to the assessment of the applications. Both assessment systems can be found at Wind op zee - Hollandse Kust (noord) kavel V (only in Dutch). 

The composition of expert groups:

Expert commission innovation

• Prof. Dr. Marko Hekkert (chairman)
• Prof. Dr. Martin Kühn
• Dr. Jos Meeuwsen
• Ir. Bert Stuij
• Ir. Hans Welschen

Expert commission risk analysis and mitigation

• Dr. Sander Lensink (chairman)
• Prof. Dr. Machiel Mulder
• Drs Albert Jochems
• Ir. Brendan Williams
• Ir. Bernard van Hemert

Site studies, webinars and events

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency has commissioned various studies in relation to the wind farm zone in preparation for this tender procedure. All available data will be published at offshorewind.rvo.nl. We will also provide a description of this wind farm zone in the Project and Site Description (PSD).

An introduction workshop on Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Zone Site V (HKNWFS V) for interested parties was held on 18 April 2019. HKNWFS webinars were also shown. On 8 October 2019, a workshop was organised during the Offshore Energy Conference in Amsterdam. All details can be found in the agenda at offshorewind.rvo.nl.

Project and site description HKN

The Project and Site Description (PSD version October 2019) and appendices are designed to help any party with an interest in Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V in the Netherlands. The documents describe the site, studies, surroundings and characteristics of HKNWFS V:

• Project and Site Description Hollandse kust (noord) V, version October 2019.
• Appendix A: Applicable Law; The Wind Farm Site Decision HKNWFS V, Development Frame work Offshore Wind Energy and draft application form are available in Dutch and English.
• An English summary of the Environmental Impact Assessment can be found in Appendix B, version May 2018.
• Appendix C: Boundaries and Coordinates HKNWFS V, version December 2019.

The magazine Hollandse Kust, where wind and water works shows what the Netherlands has to offer for offshore wind energy.

Wind Farm Site Decision

The final Wind Farm Site Decision for Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Site V has been published in the Government Gazette on 9 April 2019. An unofficial translation can be found in Appendix A.

The Wind Farm Site Decision Hollandse Kust (noord) Site V is irrevocable.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency

Approximately 25% of Hollandse Kust (noord) Wind Farm Zone Site V is located within the 12 miles zone of the Dutch territories. This means a seabed lease has to be established between the wind farm operator and The Central Government Real Estate Agency. Apart from the seabed lease for the wind turbines, a rental agreement for the infield cabling between the wind turbines and the TenneT platform has to be signed. An English translation of the Seabed Lease, Rental Agreement, General Terms and Conditions is published on this website.

Right to seabed lease

The Central Government Real Estate Agency has calculated the cost for the right to the seabed lease at these sites, based on a rate of € 0.98 per MWh every year, using a fixed total capacity of 700 MW and 4,000 full load hours. The payment is fixed and independent of the final actual installed capacity or output from the wind farms and is only required for the part of the wind farm within the 12 miles zone. For Site V this is 25.68%. The amount for the first year of operation has therefore been fixed at € 704,659.20 per year.

These annual payments will be required 4 years after the permits have become irrevocable and will be indexed for the period of operation.

Reservation fee

From the moment the permits are given to the winner up to the moment of the payment of the right of superficies seabed lease, a fee of € 650/MW/year has to be paid for the part of the site within the 12 miles zone (Site V: 25.68%). This translates to € 116,844 per year.

These payments (indexed) will also be required for the period from when the wind farm ceases operation until it has been fully decommissioned and removed.

Rental price cables

The rental price for the infield cables is fixed at a one-off amount of € 3.29 per m² impacted corridor. The width of the impacted corridor is fixed at 0.3 m. For Site V, the impacted part is calculated as a total cable length of 130 km. For the part of the site within the 12 miles zone (Site V: 25.68%) the rental price for the cables and pipes have therefore been fixed at € 32,950 (one-off payment).

Wind energy yield calculation

When creating a wind report you will have to take into account:

• Wind Farms Amalia and Egmond aan zee (OWEZ): coordinates table (excel)
• Curtailment losses if you wish to use overplanting. Transmission system operator, TenneT, created the memo Overplanting Hollandse Kust (noord) you could use.

Questions and Answers

It is not possible to ask questions anymore. The deadline to ask questions is passed. RVO has made a final overview of the questions and answers and will publish that below soon. There is now radio silence until the result of the tender. Exceptions are to make an appointment to submit your application and in case you or RVO want to report important matters - related to the Corona virus.

Downloads

More information

• Offshorewind.rvo.nl
• Wet- en regelgeving Wind op zee (in Dutch)
• TenneT: Offshore Grid Hollandse Kust (noord) - Documentation (in English)