Orsted says world's second-largest offshore wind farm is ready to go

Danish energy firm Orsted (DOGEF) has fully commissioned the world’s second-largest offshore wind farm in the Netherlands.

Borssele wind farm will be the first in a range that should boost the nation’s share of sustainable energy in the coming ten years.

The wind farm has a capacity of 752 megawatts (MW) and will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 1 million Dutch households.

Borssele consists of 94 turbines spread over 112 square kilometres (43.2 square miles) in the North Sea — some 23 kilometres (14 miles) off the Dutch coast.

It is Orsted’s first offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. In 2016, the Danish company won the right to build the wind farm in an auction, at what was a record low subsidy on the electricity delivered at the time.

Since Orsted’s auction win, the Dutch government has given the go ahead to build wind farms with a total capacity of 2800 MW at four other sites in the North Sea. It hasn’t offered any subsidy on electricity prices at the last three auctions. Additionally, it plans to grant permits for another 6100 MW of wind power through four tenders in the next five years.

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In 2019, almost 9% of all energy used in the country was from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and biomass. This was up from 7.4% in 2018.

Orsted built the world’s first offshore wind farm in Denmark in 1991. Since then, the energy firm has constructed and is operating more than 25 offshore wind farms across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

The Netherlands hopes to get 40% of all its electricity from wind farms by 2030, with solar panels delivering another 30% of all power needed by then.

Many countries across the world are gearing up to tackle the problems of climate change and implementing plans to help them reach their goals.

In the UK, prime minister Boris Johnson has outlined a “green revolution” ten-point plan to “level-up” the country and help create 250,000 green jobs. Johnson’s blueprint aims to forge the UK ahead with eradicating its contribution to climate change by 2050.

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