Siemens Gamesa has received a firm order to supply 89 of its SWT-DD-130 4.3MW turbines by developer Windpark Fryslân to build a 383MW nearshore wind farm in the Netherlands that will be the largest yet to be constructed on a lake.
The developer in March had already been awarded a conditional contract to the manufacturer for the €500m ($546m) project in the Frisian section of the Ijsselmeer artificial lake, which is supported by the Dutch province of Friesland.
Siemens Gamesa in a note to the Spanish stock market regulator said the offshore power plant will be operational in 2021. The order comes with a 16-year service agreement.
The Ijsselmeer is a closed-off inland bay in the central Netherlands that after frequent devastating floods was isolated from the open North Sea in 1932 by a 32km dyke called Afsluitdijk, and since then has transformed into a large fresh water lake.
The Fryslân project is independent of the Netherland’s ambitious national offshore wind programme, and instead part of the province of Friesland’s own renewable energy target of 530MW by 2020.
Van Oord is responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of foundations and cables, and will deliver the equipment to install the Siemens Gamesa turbines.
The construction of the wind farm also includes the creation of a nature reserve island south of the Afsluitdijk, with a land area of 2 hectares and a submerged area of 25 ha. During the construction of the wind farm, the island can be used as a work platform.
At the same time, it will be developed into a bird sanctuary, providing additional quality to resting and foraging habitats for fish and birds.
