Windplanblauw (Wind Plan Blue) is a 250MW wind farm being developed in the Netherlands by SwifterwinT in collaboration with Nuon, a Dutch subsidiary of Vattenfall and various government bodies.
The project will feature 61 larger and efficient wind turbines, which will replace the existing 74 turbines of the Irene Vorrink wind farm, which was commissioned in 1997 in the project area.
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Wind Plan Blue will produce sufficient electricity to power 400,000 households while offsetting 340,000t of carbon dioxide.
The wind farm project received permits, following a positive decision by the Council of State in November 2019.
The wind farm construction began in 2021 with commissioning expected in early 2023.
Windplanblauw location
The Wind Plan Blue project area is located in the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad in the central Netherlands. The wind turbines will be located in the northwest corner of the province of Flevoland, near Swifterbant.
The Irene Vorrink wind farm is situated in Lake Ijsselmeer, while the wind turbines of Wind Plan Blue will be located on land and water body.
The area is also an important archaeological site as the traces of early inhabitants of the Swifterbant culture (5300-3400BC) were found on sand ridges and dunes near Swifterbant.
The existing windmills in the project area were reclassified and the province of Flevoland was divided into four different areas with four different colours as part of the Wind Regional Plan.
Northwest Flevoland, which comprises the Wind Plan Blue project, was depicted in blue colour, and therefore, the project was titled Wind Plan Blue.
Challenges associated with the project area
The Wind Plan Blue wind farm is classified as a lake-wind type by the government and its construction method will differ from that of a regular offshore wind farm.
The offshore structures will be installed in relatively shallow waters of the lake, which makes it difficult for turbine installation vessels to reach the installation sites.
Windplanblauw wind farm details
The Windplanblauw project will involve the installation of 61 units of 4MW high-power wind turbines, of which 37 will be installed on land and the remaining 24 turbines will be placed in the water.
The onshore turbines will be installed using concrete foundation method with a maximum of 60 piles with a diameter of 40m. The offshore turbines will be installed either using monopile foundation method or dolphin structures.
The onshore turbines will produce 780GWh of renewable energy a year, which is sufficient to provide green energy to the entire city of Almere. The electricity generated by the onshore turbines is equivalent to the annual power consumption of approximately 275,000 households.
Power purchase agreement
Eneco signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SwifterwinT to purchase the electricity generated from SwifterwinT’s 37 onshore turbines in June 2020.
Eneco plans to use the electricity locally as much as possible.
Wind Plan Blue contractors
SwifterwinT and Nuon took up investigation for development and restructure of the wind farm. SwifterwinT was founded by the wind associations, Windpark Rivierduin, the Natuurstroom group and the Initiative group Windpark Ketelmeerzoom. It also comprises more than 150 entrepreneurs, residents and turbine owners from the project area.
ABB Power Grids will construct the transformer station and install transport cables, while Dura Vermeer will oversee the development of park infrastructure and foundations for the onshore wind turbines.
Source4Energy and Windunie acted as advisors to SwifterwinT for the PPA process. ECONNETIC advised and supported SwifterwinT to collaborate with residents, landowners and other parties involved in the project.
An expert from the University of Groningen assisted in the archaeological master plan for the project.
