After three years of development and construction, the grid connection for the Hollandse Kust (West) Alpha offshore wind project in the Netherlands is ready for commissioning, three months ahead of schedule.
This readiness means that operator Ecowende can connect the turbines, to be located about 50 km off the coast of Egmond aan Zee, to grid operator TenneT‘s “socket” at sea. Whereas completion was scheduled for the first quarter of this year, TenneT received the grid readiness certificate from DNV before the winter holidays.
Via the cable connection coming ashore at Heemskerk/Wijk aan Zee, power has been put on this part of the grid from the high-voltage substation along the A9 near Beverwijk.
“With this, we finished three months ahead of schedule,” says TenneT’s Anne-Marie Taris. “A fine achievement that the Equans/Smulders contractor combination can also be proud of. Both the teams at sea and on land have done a great job in recent months.”
In 2016, the Netherlands government designated TenneT as the offshore grid operator, connecting the farms to the national high-voltage grid. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate commissioned five standardized grid connections of 700 MW by this year. A connection from sea to land has been completed every year since 2019, says the company.
