The Netherlands exceed 2023 offshore wind target as Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind park nears completion

It was recently announced that the Netherlands are going to exceed their offshore wind target set for 2023, while also marking another significant milestone with the installation of the final turbine in the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind park.

More specifically, the target that was set by the Netherlands for the end of 2023 was 4.5 gigawatts of offshore wind energy to be up and running on the national grid, while the actual capacity realized is going to be 4.7 gigawatts by December, when the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind park will go into operation.

This 4.7-gigawatt capacity translates to 15.8% of the country’s total energy consumption, a number which is going to rise further, as the future goals for offshore wind capacity include 21 GW reached by 2030 and 70 GW by 2050.

As for the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind park, its 69^th and final turbine was hoisted into place on the evening of Thursday, October 19.

The park consists of 11 MW capacity turbines, which will add 759 MW of clean energy to the grid in the following weeks, when final testing and commissioning works will be completed, allowing the farm to power about a million households.

This park is expected to be the country’s most innovative, as it will also feature floating offshore solar and a hydrogen plant. In addition to this, it is one of the fastest installed parks of its kind, as work on its foundations started on October 22, roughly a year prior to its completion.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that future costs of offshore wind energy are also rising, with the Netherlands’ Energy Minister, Rob Jetten, stating that the estimated offshore grid costs for the period between 2032 and 2057, have risen by approximately €10 billion within a year, going from €26 billion to €35.5 billion.