The Netherlands’ economics and climate ministry has granted Dutch exploration and production company ONE-Dyas final permits for the development of the NO5-A gas field in the North Sea that is slated to be powered by offshore wind from Germany.

The platform for the gas field about 20km from the islands of Borkum in Germany, and Rottumerplaat and Schiermonnikoog in the Netherlands will run entirely on wind energy from EWE’s nearby 113MW Riffgat wind farm, reducing its carbon footprint, ONE-Dyas said.

"Project N05-A and the energy transition go hand in hand. The transition to 100% renewable energy takes time,” ONE-Dyas chief executive Chris de Ruyter said, adding that natural gas will still be needed for heating.

Offshore wind will also be part-powering Equinor’s Snorre-Gullfaks field off Norway, one the 88MW Hywind Tampen floating wind project has been completed later this year. Other than Hywind Tampen, Riffgat has already been in operation since 2014, and currently supplies some 120,000 households.

ONE-Dyas aims to deliver the first natural gas to Dutch and German households by the end of 2024. The N05-A project is part of the so-called GEMS area, an area approximately 20 to 100 kilometres north of the Ems estuary.

The company is currently actively exploring the potential of other gas fields in this part of the North Sea, as Germany and the Netherlands are seeking to wean themselves off Russian gas supplies in the wake of the war against Ukraine.

Germany before the war sourced 55% of its fossil gas from Russia, and the Netherlands around 15%.