Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs to invest in FLOW offshore wind energy project

 

Today, the outgoing Economic Affairs Minister Van der Hoeven granted funding of €19.5 million for the Far and Large Offshore Wind (FLOW) innovation project. The subsidy matches the same level of funding previously announced by the companies in the FLOW consortium.

The budget will be spent on the first phase of the FLOW project. This will involve research into and development of efficient wind turbines in the North Sea and innovative foundation concepts, as well as research into maintenance strategies and installation techniques for wind farms at greater depths and distances from the coast. The connection of these wind farms to the electricity grid is also part of the programme.

“The Minister is now acting on earlier promises and supporting the innovative powers of the Dutch business community in this area,” says Peter Terium, CEO of Essent and Chairman of the FLOW consortium. “In doing so, she is offering us the opportunity to further develop the role played by Dutch industry in the expanding international market for the generation of wind energy at sea.”

“The unique public/private partnership in FLOW offers The Netherlands the chance to take the lead in the market for offshore wind energy,” says Dirk Jan van den Berg, Chairman of the Executive Board at Delft University of Technology. “This move by the Government will have a significant impact, both in terms of sustainable energy supplies and the Dutch economy.”

By awarding the subsidy, the Minister is implementing the recommendations made earlier this month by the Taskforce ‘Wind Energie op Zee’ (Wind Energy at Sea). The research conducted by ‘het Innovatie Platform’ (the Innovation Platform) and the ‘SER’ (Social and Economic Council) also highlight the Dutch industry’s leading position in this field.

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About FLOW
The FLOW project was launched in September last year by Dutch businesses and knowledge institutes, RWE/Essent, Eneco, TenneT, Ballast Nedam, Van Oord, IHC Merwede, 2-B Energy, XEMC Darwind, ECN and Delft University of Technology. The partners took the opportunity to formulate a business plan designed to enable the parties involved to adopt a leading position in the European market for offshore wind farms. In addition to the potential for employment, it also brings the Dutch Government a step closer to achieving its target for wind energy capacity of 6,000 megawatts at sea by 2020. The target set for the FLOW plan is to achieve a cost reduction of 20% for far shore wind energy by 2015 (compared to 2010).

Worldwide knowledge and experience of wind farms far offshore and at great depths is still in its early stages. FLOW aims to increase the reliability of these types of wind farms, accelerate their development and reduce risks and costs at the same time. The total budget of more than €19.5 million is intended for the first phase of FLOW, which will begin to take shape in the next four years.

A central part of the subsequent phase involves the development of a demonstration wind farm with 20 to 60 wind turbines (100 to 300 megawatts). The new concepts developed within FLOW can then be tested in the demonstration wind farm.

Note for the editors, not for publication.
For more information please contact:
Essent Media Relations: Rik Hammer, Essent spokesperson.
Tel.: 0800-02 44 022 (+31 73 853 4939 if you are calling from abroad)
E-mail: mediarelaties@spam-preventionessent.nl, www.flow-windpark.nl

RWE/Essent
The international energy company RWE/Essent is one of Europe’s largest producers and suppliers of electricity. RWE/Essent already has a strong presence in the market for offshore wind energy in the United Kingdom. The company already has the 60-MW North Hoyle wind farm off the Welsh coast and will this year commission a second wind farm with 90 MW of installed capacity at Rhyl Flats. A further offshore wind farm, which is also planned off the coast of North Wales at Gwynt y Môr, will become one of the largest farms of its kind in the world, with a planned capacity of several hundreds MW. Moreover, RWE Innogy holds a 50% stake in the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm off the East Coast of England. On completion in 2011 this wind farm will have a total capacity of 500 MW. RWE Innogy is also looking to expand its offshore production of wind energy to areas off the coast of mainland Europe. In Germany, for instance, the company is planning to build the Innogy Nordsee 1 wind farm with a capacity of about 960 MW off the German island Juist in the North Sea. In The Netherlands a licence has been requested for the Tromp wind farm with a capacity of 300 MW off the northern Dutch Coast.

Eneco is one of the three leading energy companies in the Netherlands. Wind energy forms an important element of Eneco’s sustainability strategy. Eneco expects that in 2020, already 70% of the electricity supplied to its customers will be generated from sustainable resources. In The Netherlands, Eneco owns 100 land-based wind turbines with a total capacity of 120 MegaWatt and can supply an additional 120 MW with the Princess Amalia Wind Farm at the North Sea. With its own wind turbines, Eneco already supplies more than 170,000 households with electricity generated from wind. In addition, Eneco has concluded Power Purchase Agreements to the amount of approximately 700 MW with which it can supply nearly 500,000 households with electricity. The landbased Anna Vosdijkpolder Wind Farm (15 MW) became operational in 2008, followed in 2009 by the St. Antoinedijk Wind Farm (10 MW) in the city of Halderberge. In Belgium, Eneco has a wind energy capacity of 80 MW. Eneco is also active in France and Great Britain. It is expected that the British Tullo Wind Farm Ltd. will become operational in 2010.

TenneT
The Transmission System Operator TenneT is the Dutch electricity carrier. TenneT safeguards the reliability and continuity of the electricity supply in the Netherlands. It also develops services and tasks that further advance the electricity market and enable it to function properly. An example of this is the development of a sustainable energy system.

Ballast Nedam is a Dutch multinational active in the building, construction and infrastructure sectors and is aiming to become one of the most prominent players in the European offshore wind energy market. The company has a special offshore wind energy division with extensive experience in the design, installation, construction and development of offshore wind farms. Ballast Nedam installed the first Dutch wind farm named Lely in 1994, followed by Dronten in 1996, and OWEZ in 2006. Last year Ballast Nedam installed the foundations for two offshore wind farms in the United Kingdom. Ballast Nedam is currently involved in the German offshore wind energy project Baltic I. Ballast Nedam is also engaged in the Dutch R&D project We@Sea and recently developed a new concept for an environmentally-friendly concrete monopile foundation as part of the Swedish Kriegers Flak R&D project.

Van Oord is a world wide operating Dutch dredging and marine contractor. The company is a
world leader in dredging , marine construction projects and offshore activities, and an important player in the design and construction of offshore wind farms. Van Oord’s activities as a EPC contractor comprise the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of foundations and electrical installations of wind farms. In the Netherlands Van Oord was as EPC contractor responsible for the design, procurement and construction of the 130 Mw Prinses Amalia wind farm off the coast of IJmuiden. Since august 2009 Van Oord started as EPC contractor with the construction of 165 Mw Belwind Project Phase 1 off the coast of Zeebrugge, Belgium.

IHC Merwede is focussed on the continuous development of design and construction activities for the specialist maritime sector. It is the global market leader for efficient dredging and mining vessels and equipment – with vast experience accumulated over decades – and a reliable supplier of custom-built ships and supplies for offshore construction.
IHC Merwede has in-house expertise for engineering and manufacturing innovative vessels and advanced equipment, as well as providing life-cycle support. Its integrated systematic approach has helped to develop optimum product performance and long-term business partnerships.
The company’s broad customer base includes dredging operators, oil and gas corporations, offshore contractors and government authorities.
IHC Merwede has over 3,000 employees based at various locations in The Netherlands, China, Croatia, France, India, the Middle East, Nigeria, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. 
Technological innovation will remain the company’s underlying strength through its continuous investment in research and development. Moreover, it helps to safeguard a sustainable environment.

2-B Energy 2-B Energy will bring a new design to market for large dedicated offshore wind turbines with significant lower investment and operations costs. A holistic approach -based on component reduction, material savings and extended lifetime- has led to an innovative wind power plant concept. The solution includes a 2-blade rotor, a truss tower support structure and a direct current power export system. The prototype will be put into use during the first half of 2011.

XEMC Darwind BV, formerly known as Darwind, is a design, development and future production agency specialising in ‘direct drive’ technology for offshore wind turbines that lead to lower operating and maintenance costs. XEMC Darwind is currently working on the third generation of Direct Drive wind turbines. The prototype of this 5MW turbine will be taken into operation in 2010 at the ECN test site in the Wieringermeer polder. Unique characteristics of this Dutch turbine are: (1)
Custom-developed for offshore applications (2) Low installation and maintenance costs (3) High availability and high revenues at competitive purchase costs. The company is striving to become a major global supplier of offshore wind turbines. This statement is underlined by the recent partnership with the Chinese company XEMC Windpower. The new Sino-Dutch company plans to start producing commercially from 2011. Together with its partners and suppliers, XEMC Darwind will create hundreds of jobs, mainly for development, assembly, logistics, installation and operational maintenance in the Netherlands.

ECN is the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands. It is the largest Dutch R&D institute in the field of renewable energy. ECN develops high-grade knowledge and technology for a sustainable energy system and brings this to market. The special wind energy unit occupies a strategic position between universities and industry, covers all relevant wind energy disciplines and is one of Europe’s leading offshore wind energy institutes.

TU Delft
Delft University of Technology is a multilateral and multidisciplinary university of technology, where 15,000 students and 5,000 employees work on technical solutions and innovations for social problems and the development of knowledge. Renewable energy, such as wind power, is one of the main subjects of scientific research at Delft. The research into wind energy in Delft is carried out at the Delft University Wind Energy Research Institute, DUWIND.

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