New offshore wind farm with 'Nature inclusive design'

A key part of our mission to “Enhance society together” is to champion renewable energy and help fight climate change. That’s why we’re thrilled to have been part of the bid team for this great project.

Being part of the bid team allows us to contribute our expertise in identifying and assessing innovative ecological concepts for integration into the design and developing site-specific opportunities for nature-inclusive design.

The wind farm, located 50 kilometers off the Dutch coast near IJmuiden, will consist of 54 turbines, and generate enough clean electricity to meet 3% of the Netherlands’ total electricity demand. At the same time, the project prioritizes the conservation and enhancement of the natural environment. The wind farm will be built without subsidy, demonstrating the increasing feasibility and sustainability of offshore wind as a source of renewable power.

Royal HaskoningDHV provided support for Ecowende’s winning tender

Royal HaskoningDHV’s role in this tender project was to generate solutions and assess the feasibility of the innovative ecological solutions that will be integrated into the farm’s design. Our support included among other tasks:

• Drafting mitigation and nature enhancement measures: We drafted site specific and innovative opportunities for mitigating negative effects and nature enhancement by Nature Inclusive Design (NID) and identified knowledge gaps that needed to be addressed.
• Project coordination and management: We managed documentation and provided support to coordinate the project.
• Bid preparation: Finally we compiled our work in support of Shell and Eneco's bid. We also helped fine-tuning the final bid.

A win for the Netherlands and North Sea wildlife

The wind farm includes a wide array of measures to mitigate the negative effects, for instance by using innovative techniques to install the foundations. These measures will minimise the effect on marine mammals and other marine life. The wind farm aims to also minimise the impact on birds by for instance including a safe corridor for birds.

Besides mitigation of negative effects other measures focus on enhancing the underwater life. For instance, by placing natural reef structures on the seabed, contributing to biodiversity in this region of the North Sea.

Would you like to learn more? Please contact us or have a look at Shell’s press release.