The Blauwwind consortium achieved first power from the Borssele III/IV offshore windfarm in the Dutch sector of the North Sea on 7 August 2020.
The first turbine is now generating power and delivering electricity to the grid; 36 of the 77 turbines are now installed and after undergoing testing in the coming weeks it is expected that one new turbine will become operational every day.
Completion of the offshore windfarm is currently expected in October 2020.
Blauwwind project director and chief executive Roeland Borsboom said: “Keeping a project of this scale and complexity on track in these challenging times can only be achieved through collaboration and flexibility.” He added cooperation between partners Van Oord, MHI Vestas and TenneT had ensured that the grid connection for the windfarm was ready a month ahead of schedule.
The windfarm consists of 77 V164-9.5 turbines from MHI Vestas and has a total installed capacity of 731.5 MW.
The Blauwwind consortium partners are Partners Group, Shell, DGE, Eneco Group and Van Oord. Shell and Eneco Group have also secured 15-year power purchase agreements from the consortium under which each will buy 50% of the power generated.
Van Oord executed the engineering, procurement and construction of the foundations and inter array cables. The offshore substation, Borssele Beta, was designed and constructed by TenneT.