The construction of the 759MW Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) offshore wind farm, off the coast of the Netherlands, has commenced with the first monopile installed.
The project’s 70 monopiles will be installed by Van Oord over the coming months at the HKN site, located 18 km off the coast at Egmond aan Zee.
The installation of the monopiles is expected to be completed by mid-2023.
Wind farm owner CrossWind, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco, will be implementing several innovations in the construction of the wind farm, such as offshore hydrogen production and floating solar panels.
Tjalling de Bruin, Crosswind’s CEO and project director of Hollandse Kust Noord, said: “This is the first step towards the realisation of a total installed capacity of 759MW by the end of 2023 when the wind farm will come on stream.”
The wind turbines that will be installed on the monopiles will form part of a “smart” wind farm.
De Bruin said: “The wind doesn’t always blow equally hard everywhere.
“How do you ensure that green electricity can still be supplied even when wind speeds are low? Together with our partners, we are exploring five different innovations designed to meet these challenges.
“In this way we are trying to ensure that future offshore wind farms will form a constant power supply regardless of how hard the wind blows, and helping to keep the electricity grid stable.”