Ecowende and Van Oord will collaborate on the construction of the offshore wind farm on Hollandse Kust (west) lot VI, according to the company's release. This will be the most ecological wind farm yet, with minimal impact on the natural habitat of birds, bats and marine mammals, and with a thriving underwater world. The aim is to enable the development of offshore wind farms with a net-positive impact in the near future. The collaboration between the wind farm developer, a joint venture of Shell and Eneco, and Van Oord was announced today at the 'Van Oord & Energy Transition' masterclass, to mark the launching ceremony for Van Oord's new cable-laying vessel Calypso. Contract signing will take place later this year.
As Ecowende's contractor, Van Oord will be responsible for transporting and installing the foundations. Van Oord will also design, procure and lay the connecting cables between the wind turbines. Finally, Van Oord will be handling the transportation and installation of the wind turbines at sea.
Building a wind farm in harmony with nature is an important condition for eventually achieving the ambition of 70 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050, within the ecological limits of the North Sea. Besides reducing the negative impact of an offshore wind farm, it is also necessary to implement ecological measures that can contribute to the development of wind farms with a net positive impact. To that end, Ecowende will implement various innovations, large-scale mitigation and stimulation ecological measures and an extensive monitoring and research programme above and below the water. For Van Oord, this also means a different approach to previous wind farms.
Ecowende will monitor, investigate and adjust the effectiveness of this approach with various innovations and technologies.