, wind power in the Netherlands has an installed capacity of 11,714 MW, 40.5% of which is offshore. In 2022, the wind turbines provided the country with 18.37% of its electricity demand during the year. Windmills have historically played a major part in the Netherlands by providing an alternative to water driven mills.Blunt, Elizabeth. "Exploiting wind power in Holland." BBC News. N.p., 13 November 2000. Web. 14 October 2009. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1021714.stm>.
In March 2022, the Dutch government announced that by 2030 offshore wind was to become the Netherlands' biggest power source, aiming at 21 GW of installed capacity.
Since 2015 there has been a trend towards the deployment and planning for large wind farms, both onshore and offshore, with a view to the approximate tripling wind power capacity from 2015 levels by 2023. The first of these, the 429 MW Noordoostpolder wind farm was already partially deployed by year end 2015 whilst the 600 MW Gemini offshore wind farm was commissioned in 2017. These newer and larger wind farms are making use of some of the largest wind turbines available, in particular in the case of Noordoostpolder the Enercon E-126 7500 kW wind turbine, the largest onshore turbine available at that time. The Netherlands is also well prepared for a significant rise in the production of intermittent power from wind energy by good interconnectors to its neighbours via high voltage cables enabling power to be imported or exported according to supply and demand. These include the 580 km NorNed submarine cable (700 MW) link to Norway, the 1,000 MW BritNed cable link to the United Kingdom and the COBRA cable link to Denmark (700 MW).
Many of the numerous smaller and older wind farms in the Netherlands consist of much smaller turbines compared to those typically deployed today. These were often manufactured by lesser known wind turbine manufacturers, sometimes producing innovative products such as the Nedwind 2 blade turbine. Many of these smaller companies were eventually acquired by the larger wind turbine manufactures such as Vestas, Siemens and Lagerwey.
Installed capacity
+Cumulative wind capacity in The NetherlandsYear1990199119921993199419951996199719981999Installed capacity (MW)5083101131152250296324363410Electricity generated (GWh) 5688137173221314435489571642% of electricity consumption0.070.110.160.200.240.340.450.490.550.61 Capacity factor in percent12.7912.1015.4815.0816.6014.3416.7817.2317.9617.88Year2000200120022003200420052006200720082009Sea-based capacity (MW)108108228228Land-based capacity (MW) 4474856729051,0751,2241,4531,6411,9211,994Installed capacity (MW)4474856729051,0751,2241,5611,7492,1492,222Electricity generated (GWh) 7448221,0201,3591,7632,0342,5403,1663,9254,481% of electricity consumption0.690.740.911.191.501.722.112.583.183.78 Capacity factor in percent19.0019.3517.3317.1418.7218.9718.5720.6620.8523.02Year2010201120122013201420152016201720182019Sea-based capacity (MW)228228228228228357957957957957Land-based capacity (MW)2,0092,0882,2052,4852,6373,0343,3003,2453,4363,527Installed capacity (MW)2,2372,3162,4332,7132,8653,3914,2574,2024,3934,484Electricity generated (GWh) 4,5034,7254,9395,3685,8106,9178,3649,64210,03010,774% of electricity consumption3.693.844.104.474.925.816.977.988.228.82 Capacity factor in percent22.9823.2923.1722.5923.1523.2922.4326.1926.0627.43Year2020202120222023202420252026202720282029Sea-based capacity (MW)2,4602,4602,57041104,7484,748Land-based capacity (MW)4,1885,1866,13166926,9537035Installed capacity (MW)6,6487,6468,70010,80211,702Electricity generated (GWh) 13,94918,99821,40426,98332,20133,526% of electricity consumption11.5415.5218.2523.2626.9227,64 Capacity factor in percent23.9528.0127.8728.2431.90
Past targets
The Dutch government set a target of 6,000 MW nameplate capacity of onshore wind power by 2020 and 4,450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023, neither of which were met. This would contribute towards the Dutch target of 14% renewable energy use out of total energy use by 2020, and 16% by 2023. In 2020 wind power provided 11.54% of Dutch electricity generation (see table above) while solar power provided an additional 7.25%, for a combined 18.79%
For offshore wind a new system of tendering is under development. New wind farm deployment is based on the SER agreement that describes a plan for five years of tendering 700 MW per year. Under this system the government chooses locations and organizes tenders for projects of 350 MW, and project developers can offer bids for each farm. These sites are also surveyed centrally by the government, allowing developers to avoid costly and multiple surveys.
+Offshore wind energy targets defined in the 2015 SER agreementCall for tender (year)Capacity (MW)Expected commissioningWind farmsCapacity (MW)Commissioning2016 (early)7002019–2020Borssele I–II75220212016 (late)7002020Borssele III–V750.5202120177002021Hollandse Kust (Zuid) I–II7592024 (planned)20187002022Hollandse Kust (Zuid) III–IV7702024 (planned)20197002023Hollandse Kust (Noord) V7592023Total3,500by 2023Total3,790.5by 2024
Turbine manufacturers and repowering Many small scale wind farms exist throughout the Netherlands which bear testament to earlier models of wind turbines and lesser known manufacturers which provided a range of niche products, ranging in size and power output. There are several Dutch turbine manufacturers that continue to manufacture both large and small installations for domestic and international clients. Smaller turbines are often used for off grid, bespoke and community power internationally.
+Selected Dutch wind turbine manufacturersManufacturer/ modelNotesLagerweyStarted operations in 1979. Produced at least 19 models at 250, 750, 1500, 2000, 2300, 2500, 2600, 3000, 3600, 3800, 4000 and 4500 kW. Active 2020.WESEstablished 1983. Produced at least 3 models of outputs 100, 200, 250 kW. Two of the models are still under production.NedWindBegan operating in 1990. Produced at least 8 models with power outputs of 100, 250, 500, 1000 kW.
Acquired by Neg Micon 1998WindmasterProduced at least 14 models of 100. 150, 200, 225, 300, 500, 750, 850 and 1300 kW. Acquired by Lagerway in 1998.2-B EnergyStarted operation in 2001 and is developing a 6,000 kW two blade downwind turbine. Active 2016.EWTFounded in 2004, Produced at least 12 models at 250, 500, 750, 900 and 2000 kW. Active 2020. XEMC-DarwindStarted operations 2009. Produced at least 12 models of 2000, 4000, 4500, and 5000 kW. Active 2016. Some of the newer larger wind farms currently under construction are replacing smaller turbines previously installed at given locations. One such example is the largest wind farm in the Netherlands, Noordoostpolder, which is installing industrial scale wind turbines such as the new Enercon onshore wind turbines, at the time the largest onshore turbines in the world rated at 7500 kW nameplate capacity. The turbines have a hub height of and each new turbine can generate as much electricity as all 50 turbines of the old wind farm combined. The wind farm demonstrates the growth in scale in wind power as between 1987 and 1991 it was the largest of its kind in Europe with 50 turbines and a total nameplate capacity of 15 MW. The new Zuidwester site at the wind farm will have just 12 turbines and a total nameplate capacity of 90 MW. A second hand market for turbines also exists, which could grow as older turbines are replaced by larger newer ones.
Timeline of developments
2022 In February 2022 the Netherlands announced it increased its offshore wind target to 21 GW by 2030. That would meet approximately 75% of the country's electricity needs. With this, offshore wind energy makes an important contribution to achieving the increased climate target of 55% less -emissions.
2018 In March 2018 the Dutch government announced that between 2023 and 2030 it will build several new windfarms with a total installed capacity of 7 gigawatt. Where the parks will come and how they will be built is still being discussed. However, the government wants 40% of the total electricity used in 2030 in the Netherlands to be supplied by wind.
2016 In the first week of December 2016, all 150 turbines of the new 600 MW Gemini offshore windfarm began producing power, and the project is expected to be fully commissioned by mid 2017.4C Offshore, Key project dates for Gemini , accessed 22 January 2017 In July 2016, the first two stages of offshore wind farm development for a combined 700 MegaWatt capacity in a water area near Borssele was awarded to DONG Energy at a price of 7.27 Euro cent per kilowatt hour for 15 years. Transmission costs of 1.4 eurocent/kWh is to be added as TenneT is required to take power from sea to shore.https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2016/07/05/netherlands-offshore-wind-farm-borssele-cheapest-world-wide http://www.windpoweroffshore.com/article/1401396/updated-dong-wins-borssele-tender-%e2%82%ac7270-mwh http://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/insight/publications/2016/07/dong-energy-wins-first-borssele-offshore-wind/
2015 2015 was a record year for new installations in the Netherlands with 586 MW added of which 180 MW were offshore. This record was immediately beaten the following year with another 766 MW being added.
The Dutch government has expressed the aspiration to build 4.450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023 which will have a considerable impact on the Dutch electricity grid, operated by TenneT.Offshore Wind Power Research, WE@Sea, accessed December 28th 2009. As a first step, the government has determined 65 sites for offshore wind farms in the North Sea and IJsselmeer.
2013 By December 2013, 1,975 wind turbines were operational on land in the Netherlands, with an aggregate capacity of 2,479 MW. An additional 228 MW of capacity was installed at sea.
2011 In November 2011, the Dutch government decided to no longer fund €6 billion per year to maintain subsidized wind kWh at €0.18. It sharply cut subsidies down to €1.5 billion, leaving private sector to carry over wind turbine investments should these be beneficial.Hudson, Alexandra. "Dutch build towering wind turbines out at sea." Reuters.
Onshore wind power
Whilst there are a growing number of large onshore wind farms in the Netherlands, most of the onshore farms in 2015 consisted of a large number of small wind farms, including many single installation turbines as well as farms of between 1–10 turbines. In total there were 3,004 MW of onshore wind power at the end of 2015. Most wind power is produced in the province of Flevoland. A few of the larger wind farms are listed here.