The Blauwwind consortium has achieved first power from the 732MW Borssele 3&4 offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea.
The developer said that 36 of the 77 MHI Vestas V164-9.5MW turbines are now installed and, after undergoing further initial tests in the coming weeks, it is expected that one additional machine will become operational each day.
Blauwwind chief executive Roeland Borsboom said: “I am proud of the team that has managed the safe execution and the commissioning phase, achieving first power on time.
“Keeping a project of this scale and complexity on track in these challenging times can only be managed through good collaboration and flexibility.
“The delivery of first power has been achieved in close cooperation with partners Van Oord, MHI Vestas and TenneT, who has provided grid readiness one month ahead of time.”
Blauwwind comprises Partners Group, Shell, DGE, Eneco Group and Van Oord.
Shell and Eneco Group have also secured 15-year power purchase agreements from the consortium, under which each will buy 50% of the power generated by the wind farm.
Van Oord has executed the engineering, procurement and construction of the foundations and inter array cables.
The offshore substation Borssele Beta has been designed and constructed by TenneT.