Wind Power News: Netherlands
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted.
Do wind farms threaten marine life?
Green energy is good, but what are the effects on marine life of constructing the foundations for offshore wind farms?
Professor Han Lindeboom of the Imares Maritime Research Institute based on the Dutch island of Texel has been looking into the issue of wind farms and their impact.
The professor is worried by the 200 decibels of noise generated by hammering the foundations’ 4-metre-diameter concrete piles into the seabed. Construction work is set to continue for decades even if . . .
Energy island to supply green power when wind drops
A man-made island housing a hydroelectric plant and generating enough electricity to supply two million Dutch homes is planned for the North Sea by 2020.
It would act as back-up to wind farms by ensuring that electricity is still generated when the wind drops and would provide extra peak-time capacity. If successful, similar islands could be be built to supply other countries, especially those such as Britain that will increasingly come to depend on wind energy. The proposed site, called . . .
Provinces call for more action on green power
Provincial authorities are unhappy at the tempo at which on-shore wind parks are being built and claim that central government is structurally frustrating their ambitions for green energy, reports Friday’s Financieele Dagblad.
The provinces are to hand over a petition to The Hague today calling for ‘unambiguous cooperation’ from the government in their plans to increase wind power production to 3,600MW in 2013 from 1,700MW now.
DutchNews.nl
3 October 2008
Offshore wind power targets will not be met
The government will not meet its goal of having around 30 offshore windparks (total capacity 6,000MW) in the North Sea by 2020 if it maintains current policy, reports Saturday’s Financieele Dagblad.
After 10 years of dithering on issues such as locations and subsidies, the Netherands has managed to build just two offshore windparks with combined capacity of 228MW, enough to supply electricity to 225,000 households, the paper says.
In 2011 there will be another three windparks at the most, leaving . . .
New power link may be established between Denmark and Netherlands
The Dutch and Danish transmission service operators TenneT and Energinet.dk have decided to look into the possibilities of establishing a power link between Denmark and The Netherlands.
The purpose of the link, preliminarily entitled Cobra, is to allow for the integration of more renewable energy into the Dutch and Danish power systems and to increase security of supply.
A power link between Denmark and The Netherlands is in line with the European Union’s ambitions for a stronger and more interconnected . . .
Big companies keen on wind energy
In a full-page advert in the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, 20 major Dutch companies push for wind farms to be built in the North Sea. The World Wildlife Fund has already started a campaign for wind energy at sea, in association with the power companies, Dutch Railways and the Rabobank. Offshore wind farms are apparently a hot topic for businesspeople and environmentalists alike.
WWF and its campaign partners want 6000 MegaWatts of wind capacity to be realised at sea as soon . . .
Home-owners slow wind park progress
Almost two-thirds of the new wind park building projects in the Netherlands are being delayed mainly because of objections from locals, according to an analysis of 214 wind power projects by the environment ministry.
‘It is positive that so many projects are being developed but there is still a lot of work to be done to get public support,’ a ministry spokesman told ANP news service.
The department’s survey makes it clear that the national government needs to discuss the situation with . . .
Blade breaks from wind turbine [Dutch]
Wiek breekt af van windturbine
Een afgebroken wiek van een windturbine naast de N245 tussen Oudkarspel en Dirkshorn zorgde dinsdagavond voor een levensgevaarlijke situatie. Het 23 meter lange gevaarte vloog over de weg en kwam in de berm terecht, wonderwel pal naast de weg, waardoor het verkeer op de weg tenauwernood een ramp bespaard bleef.
Fabrikant Vestas, marktleider in de wereld, zegt dat dit nog niet eerder in Nederland gebeurd is. Maar in Noord-Holland zijn er eerder al wel ongelukken met windmolens . . .
RWE plans new wind farms off the coast of the Netherlands
RWE Innogy and RWE Energy Nederland have jointly submitted proposals to the Dutch authorities to build at least two major offshore wind farms in the Netherlands. The total volume of 2000MW is thought to represent one of the largest offshore wind development projects in the world.
RWE´s proposals would make a significant contribution to the Dutch Government’s target for energy generation from wind farms of 6000MW by 2020. The Netherlands currently has 108 MW in offshore wind farm capacity.
The wind farms . . .
Dutch build towering wind turbines out at sea
There is no shortage of wind in the densely-populated Netherlands but there is a shortage of space and in a nation which likes its houses small and its gardens cosy, opposition to wind farms is immense.
That is why a new Dutch wind farm is being built so far out to sea it is barely visible on the horizon, reducing the visual impact of its 60 turbines to virtually nil whilst at the same time harnessing higher offshore wind speeds.
Offshore wind . . .
