ENGY7002 Energy & Development: Offshore Wind Energy In Netherlands

Introduction

In accordance with the international developments, the Netherlands experiences numerous challenges in her attempts to lower global emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. As per the international agreement on climate change, an agreement was reached for an achievement of a global balance between emissions of greenhouse gases and trapping and storage by the second half of the 21^st century (Arent, 2017, p.172). Despite these numerous challenges, the Netherlands is putting every effort it takes and works on transitions to sustainable, affordable and reliable energy supply to all her citizens. The main drivers of the transition include climate change, overdependence on the international supplier of energy as well as the rapidly reducing availability of fossil fuels.  

As per the National Energy Agreement, a unanimous consensus was reached that each organization in the country including the Ministries, unions, NGOs, energy organizations and employer organizations hit a target of 16% sustainable energy by 2023. All the sources of sustainable energy in the country are expected to hit this goal and the wind energy sector both land-based and offshore are not left behind either (Ghosh, 2011, p.213). The conditions in the Netherlands for offshore energy are excellent making it highly possible and convenient to harness the resource. Among the conditions in the country include good harbor facilities, waters that are relatively shallow, robust support system, good wind resource besides an industrial wind and elaborate and extensive experience.

The current State of Technology

By the end of the year 2015, the Netherlands had reached an installed capacity of 3431 MW of wind power out of which 427 MW was derived from offshore wind. The country had 2174 turbines by that time which was able to generate to the tune of 5.6% of the total demand for electricity in the country during the year. This figure has been on the rise since then to an average of 11.4% of wind power on average across the entire electricity consumption in the European Union (Pedraza, 2015, p.183). It is in the year 2015 that the highest number of new installations were done with regard to harnessing offshore wind energy in which 586 MW were added out of which 180 MW were from offshore energy.

The Netherlands is making every effort to meet the set target of the European Union of generating 14% of the total amount of energy from renewable sources by the year 2020 and 16% by 2023. Windmills have for a long time been used in the country as an alternative to the mills that were driven by water. Most of the ancient and smaller wind farms in the country are composed of much smaller turbines in comparison to the turbines that are deployed today (Musial, 2011, p.210). Such turbines were manufactured but wind turbine manufacturers who were less famous at the time who at the time produced innovative products among them the Nedwnd 2 blade turbine.

From 2015 moving forward, plans have been set in place that has since deployment and planning for large wind farms with an idea to estimate tripling wind power capacity by the year 2023 (Anaya-Lara, 2014, p.320). The 429 MW Noordoostpolder wind fame was the first of these that was already deployed by the end of 2015 as well as Gemini offshore wind farm that was commissioned in 2017. The newer and larger farms being set up currently are making use of the largest wind turbines that are available in the market to ensure maximum wind energy is trapped. The Netherlands has also taken advantage of the good linkages she has with her neighbors to ensure a high rise in the production of intermittent power from wind energy through the use of high voltage cable which allows power to be exported or imported as needed. Among such linkages include the 1000 MW BritNed cable link which links to the United Kingdom, the 580 km NorNed submarine cable which is 700 MW and likes to Norway as well as the anticipated 2019 COBRA cable link that will link the Netherlands to Denmark and supply 700 MW of wind energy.

The government of Netherlands has set a target of 4450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023 which if achieved will enable the country to realize the 14% target of renewable energy use from the total energy use by 2020 and 16% by 2023 (Beurskens, 2011, p.245).  The country has set in place a new tendering system for offshore wind in which the deployment of the new wind farm is based on the SER agreement. The SER agreement defines five years plans of tending 700 MW every year. Under this system, the government makes a choice on the locations and arranges tenders for projects of 350 MW while the project developers are then given an opportunity to offer bids for each of the farms. The government is also in charge of surveys of the sites so as to reduce the costs of multiple and unplanned surveys by the developers.  The table below shows the offshore wind energy targets as defined in the 2015 SER agreement

Offshore wind farms in the Netherlands

The currently operational wind farms besides those under construction combined have a capacity of about 1000 MW. The Princess Amalia Wind farm built in 2008 and the Offshore Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee built in 2006 were the first two offshore wind farms that were built in the North Sea located off the coast of the Netherlands. The Wind Farm Egmond aan Zee is composed of 36 Vestas 3 MW turbines and lies 10-18 km off the coast (Arent, 2017, p.198). This farm generates a total of 108 MW of power which is able to sufficiently light 100, 000 homes. The farm is owned by Noordzeewind which is a joint investment between oil company Shell and utility company NUON and cost $272 million.

The Princess Amalia Wind farm is owned by the utility company Eneco and is located 23 km off the coast outside the 12-mile zone. The Princess Amalia Wind farm has 60 Vestas 2 MW turbines. This means it generates up to 120 MW of power which is enough to power 125, 000 homes. The energy generated by Princess Amalia Wind farm helps the Netherlands in cutting to the tune of 225, 000 tons of emissions of carbon dioxide. This wind park was a development by Eneco Energie and Econcern off the coast of Ijmuiden at a cost of $522.3 million (Lynn, 2011, p.225).

The Gemini wind farm and Wind Farm Luchterduinen are farms that are under construction. The Wind Farm Luchterduinen is composed of 43Vestas 3 MW turbines and is situated 23 km off the coast. From the turbines in the farm is can be observed that when fully operational it will generate 129 MW of power. An estimated 228 MW of installed capacity will be added to the farm at the time of completion of the full construction process (Junginger, 2010, p.102).  The Gemini farm will be constructed with 150 Siemens 4 MW turbines and will be located at Zee-energy and Buitengaats which are 85 km off the coast. The farm is under the ownership of the Northland Power, Siemens, HVC as well as Van Oord. Other offshore wind farms in the Netherlands include Irene Vorrink and Lely. Lely wind farm was built in 1992 and had 4 Nedwind 500 kW turbines that were based 1km to the shore. The farm was decommissioned and dismantled in 2016.

The roadmap towards 4500 MW offshore wind power in the Netherlands

At least 40 organizations laid the foundation for a robust, future-proof energy as well as climate policy for the Netherlands in the Energy Agreement that aimed at Sustainable Growth. Scaling up offshore wind power formed an integral part of this agreement (IBP, 2015, p.177). A roadmap to the achievement of the expansion of offshore wind was presented to the parliament of the country by the Minister of Economic Affair. This roadmap was an outline that would enable the government attains the expansion of offshore wind power in line with the agreed timeline as per the Energy Agreement.

In this 4500 MW offshore power roadmap, an annual tendering of 700 MW is foreseen in the period between 2015 and 2019 in which a precondition of a decrease in the cost of offshore wind power by 40% in the future years is set. The new 3500 MW offshore wind capacity will be deployed by three offshore wind farm zones (Pedraza, 2015, p.253). These three offshore wind farm zones included North Holland coast wind farm zone that had a capacity of 700 MW, South Holland coast wind farm zone with a capacity of 1400 MW as well as Borssele with a capacity of 1400 MW as well. The schedule below was to be used in the selection of the parties to the tenders that would be used in achieving the offshore wind farms.

 
Within four years after a decision on funding has been made, the farms would become fully operational and would adopt state-of-the-art technology that would be in place at the time. A new Offshore Wind Energy Law would be the legal base for this roadmap.

The Offshore Wind Energy Law

A law was developed by the Dutch government that guided the tendering of the designated areas of offshore wind with each of them having a different site. The environmental impact assessment will be used as the basis of consenting the sites which will have a grid connection to the mainland. The government would also avail the site data informative of the physical environment. By following this procedure, it was expected that there would be a reduction in the social cost in comparison to the previously developed wind farms (Kaiser, 2012, p.395). In the previously developed wind farms, consents and investigations that provided input for their Front End Engineering Design studies were left as a responsibility of the developers. This saw the developers undergo high cost before they could make applications for subsidies from the government.

The new approach is contained in the Offshore Wind Energy Law that took effect in July 2015 after being sent to parliament in October 2014. The approach was arrived at after elaborate and extensive consultative engagements with the wind energy sector (Poudineh, 2017, p.302). The approach had significant in improving the efficiency in the use of spaces, reduction in costs as well as acceleration of deployment of offshore wind energy. There were five distinct aspects of the system:

1. Wind farms are only to be in the designated wind farm zones

Wind farms were designated under the National Water Plan. Construction of wind farms was only allowed in these designated zones and any location of a winning farm outside these designated wind farm zones was not to be consented by the relevant bodies and authorities.

2. Provision of site data by the government

Investigation of the physical environment of the wind farm sites was a responsibility that was shifted from the developers to the government. The government was thus to undertake an investigation of the conditions of the soil, water, and wind of the various sites. The data was then to be made available to the public and was meant to inform the commercial parties of their FEED studies (Ng, 2016, p.216). The information was also vital in enabling competitive bids in tendering procedure for the possibilities of grants. The site data would be published by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and among the information included in the data would be:

• Assessment of wind resource
• Data on geology, geomorphology as well as morph dynamics
• Geotechnical and geophysical data that was based on the surveys conducted
• Metocean data
• Unexploded Ordnance and archaeological analysis

3. The government to consent wind farm sites

A wind farm site decision formed the required consent that approved the building of a wind farm and specified an exact location for the wind farm as well as the conditions under which the farm could be constructed and remains operational. These conditions would offer flexibility when it comes to the design of the wind farm. The government had the sole mandate to decide on where wind farms are to be constructed on wind farm sites. There could be numerous sites on a single zone and the wind farm decision would be taken by the Ministries of Infrastructure and that of Economic Affairs (Renewable, 2013, p.350). The conditions gave the commercial parties the chance from the available options the best technical options within the confines of the environmental and natural framework and achieve the projects at the lowest possible costs. The decisions on wind farm sites were deemed to undergo environmental impact assessment which was to be launched by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

4. Grant tendering

Under the Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production, grants for the wind farm sites would be offered via a dedicated call for tender. The producers would receive compensation in financial terms for the electricity they generate for a fixed number of years which was 15 years for the wind farms (Musial, 2011, p.320). The lowest bidder would win the tender. The condition for winning the bid was such that it had to be equal or lower than the maximum allocated amount for the specific wind farm site. In this light, the bidder who gives the lowest quotations would be rewarded with the consent and the grant to construct and operate a wind farm in accordance with the conditions of the wind farm site.

5. TSO TenneT realizes grid connection

Five standardized platforms would be constructed by transmission System Operator TenneT each with a capacity of 7000MW within the wind farm zones. The aim of this was to create economies of scale (Pedraza, 2015, p.205). Two 220kV export cables would be used to connect each of the wind farm zones to the national grid. In order to lower amount of cables required, a 380kV subsea cable would be used as soon as it would be available in connecting the wind farm zones to the grid. By connecting the wind turbines to the TenneT platform directly, the need for an OWF platform was eliminated.

Impacts on the energy systems

Offshore wind energy adds to the energy system a source of energy that is in abundance and widespread availability. As a result of population growth and rapid migration of people into the cities, the coastal cities tend to have a high population and these numerous people can have access to and use electricity generates from the wind using wind energy plants. This reduces costs that are involved with transportation of electricity from the point of generation to the point of consumption. Also reduced are the power losses that are normally associated with transmission of electricity over long distances (Arent, 2017, p.125).

Still, just like any other renewable sources of energy, offshore energy adds to the energy system environmental friendly sources of energy. The energy generated from winds can be fed directly into a machine that produces electricity and used in driving nearby generates and power plants. Coming across a clean energy source in the energy-powered world of today is a bit of a challenge following the numerous barriers to adoption of clean energy

Technical developments in the future

Plans are underway which are expected to deliver 30 GW of power with a large floating island should all go as planned. The project is expected to stand on a 2.3 square mile artificial island that would support it and allow it generate the anticipated power. This project is expected to be completed by 2027 (Beurskens, 2011, p.265). The project which is part of the recent surge in the offshore wind farms would be built at the Dogger Bank which is a windy and shallow site located 78 miles off the East Yorkshire Coast. The power generated by the project is expected to serve Netherlands and United Kingdom as the beginning and Germany, Belgium and Denmark later.

Contrary to the expensive underwater channels that are used in offshore wind farms for converting the electric current of the turbine into electricity that can be transmitted to the grid, the equipment that would be used in this project will be housed by TenneT’s island (Thomsen, 2014, p.253). This will allow sending of electricity directly to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom through cables that are cost effective. Going by the information provided by TeenT which is the Dutch electric company that is heading the project, by having additional equipment on the island it will be possible to operate more turbines at relatively lower costs and hence generates more power. This will prove a better alternative than the traditional offshore wind farm. Despite the cost of offshore wind being higher than that of onshore when there are no subsidies, the approach given to the project will prove to be advantageous as the winds tend to blow strongly and more consistently in the ocean.  When successfully executed and installed, the Dutch wind farm would be capable of generating 30 GW of power, an amount of power that is more than twice the amount of power from the offshore wind that is currently installed across Europe (Arent, 2017, p.172).

The amount of electricity that is expected to be generated by the project is enough to power a city with 20 million dwellers. For the sake of comparison, London Array is the current largest wind farm and is located in the outer Thames Estuary. The farm generates 630 MW of electricity which is 48 times less than what will be generated by the planned TenneT’s project (Ghosh, 2011, p.254). The Gansu Wind Farm which is a farm in China is currently the largest land-borne wind farm and has a projected production of 20 GW by 2020. Since China does not need a lot of power, it is also using a fraction of its power currently.  Palo Verde facility, located in Arizona in the United States is the most powerful nuclear plant and can generate 3.9 GW of electricity.  By building the project right in the middle of the North Sea, the TenneT's project remains a notable project.  Whereas the project will cost billions, the company in charge of the execution is fully convinced that there will be financial returns from the investment (Kaiser, 2012, p.254). This is attributed to three main factors: an old trick that will be used in transporting electricity over long distances without a lot of wastages in energy, the great economies of scale and the powerful and strong winds that are permanently blowing over the Dogger Bank.

TenneT will convert alternating current to direct current at high voltages instead of using alternating current as is the case with what windmills generate. Alternative current has the capability of traveling over very long cables while ensuring minimal power loses. This technology is quite important for the project due to the location of the project which is very far from land.

The conversion equipment will be held by a 1400 acre artificial island that is also to be built. The island will cost to the tune of $1.8 billion and will serve as the hub that links all the wind farm fields with the equipment for conversion and from that point to the numerous homes in the United Kingdom and Netherlands before it is Belgium, Denmark and Germany later through the use of undersea cables (Kouro, 2011, p.174). The island will also offer an opportunity for selling power at the highest attainable price dynamically through diverting electricity to markets that have higher demand and hence higher prices for energy.

The idea tends to be economically and technologically feasible according to some experts. These experts argue that the project is feasible enough especially for the Crown Estate which a British corporation that has the ownership of the seabed of the island. As the distance into the sea increases, more expensive cabling would be required to ensure power gets back to the land. The firm has come up with an innovative approach that would be used in solving such a challenge (Beurskens, 2011, p.251).

The idea will be to use economies of scale, higher speeds of wind as well as mean comparably short affordable cables in taking power from offshore turbines to the island. At this point, there are converters that would be used to change the power to alternating current as is the case with mains electricity which normally leads to power loses long distances. Up to 5-6 square kilometer of Hayling Island would be taken up by the island so as to accommodate all the equipment.

Barriers and Opportunities to offshore wind power in the Netherlands

Turbine challenges

This is a key challenge for the market. Just until a few years ago, the offshore wind was borrowing heavily from the onshore wind technology development when it came to the turbines technology. Turbines were considered as marinized onshore types (Association, 2012, p.288). The greatest share of the turbines market is owned by three turbine suppliers: Vestas, Siemens, and REpower. Other suppliers have joined the market recently and have begun offshore operation among them AREVA Multibrid and BARD as more are expected to join the market with time.

The size of the upgrade of the turbine or the technology used in making the turbine is among the considerations that are used in classifying the turbines as state-of-the-art. The test procedure for the turbines is very vigorous and the turbines have design built redundancies which ensure the expectations of the investors and the buyers are met (Kaiser, 2012, p.197). Advancements and progress have been experienced in which there are test sites for the offshore turbines that are aimed at testing and checking the performance of the turbines before the production of their serials.

Building Manpower

The tremendous and rapid expansion in the rate of adoption and development of offshore wind has not been met or followed closely by the same growth rate in trained and skilled manpower. Both newcomers and the experienced players are experiencing problems of various nature and degrees resulting from a rate and a scope of expansion. These challenges do not allow for sufficient transfer of knowledge.

This barrier can adequately be addressed through the creation of a platform that can be used in sharing experiences and knowledge in offshore wind. An idea can be borrowed from the UK's National Academy for Skill, which is a national level example. The main role of this academy is to offer education and training as well as run events, develop expertise and offer services that are meant to be of benefit to its members and to the industry as a whole. A similar technique and approach may be adopted in the Netherlands to offer such services to the people. Offshore gas and oil consulting and contracting companies are slowly finding their ways into the offshore wind sector and this is quite promising as they come with the experience they gained while they were working in the harsh offshore environments (IBP, 2015, p.152).

Construction Risks

Away from the challenges of supply chain faced by the industry, each project has to cope with numerous risks (Anaya-Lara, 2014, p.142). Since offshore wind farm projects are normally capital intensive and in most cases involve numerous contractors and interfaces, it is important and fundamental that the keen evaluation of the construction risks is done. The evaluation is integral to the success of the project. Two key items should be taken into consideration at the time of installation of offshore: the capacity of the vessels and the weather conditions. In most cases, it is common practice that people overestimate the capability of the equipment while underestimating the weather in the offshore environment and as such leading to challenges with the completion of the project. Problems have also been encountered as a result using equipment that was not designated for the task being undertaken (Anaya-Lara, 2018, p.280).

A good comprehension of the real site conditions at the location of the wind farm is facilitated by the quality of the predicted as well as the measured Metocean data which include swell, wind, tides and waves. A conservative approach should be considered when such data is being looked at with regard to the selection of vessel and project planning (Kouro, 2011, p.206). Contingency plans should be laid out for weather which is worse than the expected and such plans would enable float between different schedules of the various contractors in such a way that does not affect the date of completion of the final project. A proper understanding of operational envelopes of the vessels is important in connection with the anticipated Metocean conditions so as to ensure that the right tool as used as planned within the schedule.

Other construction risks are in relation to an understanding of the seabed conditions and poor design especially with regard to the installation of cables. In as much as cable work account for just seven percent of the total capital expenditure in an offshore project, numerous delays in the projects and insurance claims are related to the process of installation (Ghosh, 2011, p.218). Achieving the correct burial depth or meeting the deadline scheduled for installation has remained one of the greatest challenges in most of the offshore projects in the Netherlands.

Two issues came up during the construction of Princess Amalia Wind farm. The farm used monopole foundations which were transported about 50km offshore and towed by a tug vessel. In order to keep the monopolies sealed and floating, they were transported through the use of hydraulic plugs. The monopiles sank in two cases as a result of the failure of the hydraulic system available in the plugs. This led to the development of a new solution as well as additional redundancy measures which were adopted leading to more stringent weather conditions.

The grouting issue on monopiles foundations was yet another construction challenge that Princess Amalia Wind farm had to deal with. Vertical slippage has been experienced and witnessed in numerous wind farms as a result of system failure of the connection between the transition piece which is called grout and the monopiles (Junginger, 2010, p.147). The transition piece slips in such a way that it is a few milliseconds tending to the monopiles. The result of this slip is an effect on the structural integrity of the foundations. Discoveries were made about this issue at a time when the foundation had already undergone fabrication and was already being installed. Significant effort was spent on establishing a design solution which would cover the lifetime of the project and the solution was certified and implemented. As a result of the quick response in the management of the unforeseen issues, neither the commercial viability of the project nor its schedule was affected.

Building Successful Offshore

It takes track record to build a successful offshore wind project. This involves bringing on board managers and contractors who have vast and extensive experience and skills. An offshore wind farm designed and built under the prevailing models is a complex structure that has sophisticated interphases which require strong and stable management. A good understanding of the probable risks is enhanced by an elaborate knowledge of the capabilities of the supply chain as well as the panning interfaces (Arent, 2017, p.215). In order to avoid the possible time and cost overruns in these billion projects, it is important to engage in rigorous and consistent risk assessment in the entire lifecycle of the project besides an early involvement of market stakeholders.

Conclusion

Offshore wind energy is one of the sustainable and renewable sources of energy whose contribution to sustainable development, environmental conversation, and reduction in the levels of emission of carbon dioxide cannot be ignored. The Dutch government has injected a lot of resources and continues to do so in a bid to illustrate her commitment towards the realization of a carbon dioxide-free environment as per the international agreements that set various targets are different years. As per the knowledge that is currently available, there will need to put into practice all the low carbon dioxide energy sources as well as technologies in order to achieve the reduced levels of carbon dioxide that are desired. Offshore wind power is one of such surest ways that has proved effective in the Netherlands. Offshore wind power is not only a clean way of generating electricity but also contributes to the lighting of numerous homes in across the Netherlands as a result of the significant megawatts that it adds to the national grid.

Upon the implementation of the Dutch Wind Farm that is expected to generate 30 GW of electricity, Netherlands will be on the right path towards the achievement of carbon emission-free energy and will even surpass the set targets. Just like any other capital-intensive investment, offshore wind power in the Netherlands is an economically viable investment besides being one of the most successful zero-carbon energy technologies. The levelized cost of energy as at the moment for offshore wind energy is greater than the market price of energy. Identification of the optimal ways of reducing the levelized cost of energy is important and fundamental in developing the large potential that has been a witness in offshore wind. This is only achievable by having visions as well as setting in place policies that would enhance the development of offshore wind on a larger scale in the future.

References

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