News item | 18-03-2022 | 15:30
The cabinet designates three new areas for offshore wind farms and confirms two previously designated areas, together representing 10.7 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy. With these five areas, the total planned capacity for offshore wind energy will be doubled to approximately 21 gigawatts by 2030. The areas, part of the North Sea Programme, are located to the north and northwest of the country. The cabinet will decide this summer exactly where the wind farms will be located within the designated areas in the Roadmap 2030+.
Minister Jetten for Climate and Energy:
This is an important milestone in the transition to more sustainable energy. By way of comparison, 10.7 GW extra is twice as much as all Dutch households use together in electricity. By 2030, we want to extract 21 GW from offshore wind energy, making offshore wind energy our largest source of electricity by 2030. When designating the wind energy areas, careful consideration was given to the other interests in the North Sea, such as shipping, fisheries, nature and defence.
The government proposes to use the Climate Fund to pay for part of the expenditure. This concerns an amount of €1.69 billion. This is part of the elaboration of the Climate Fund, which the cabinet will send to the House of Representatives before the summer. This includes money for shipping safety, making the fishing industry more sustainable and adapting, and strengthening and protecting the North Sea ecosystem. But also for the spatial integration of the power connection on land. The procedures for these connections have already been started, or will start shortly, in close coordination with the environment.
The 3 new wind energy areas have been given the following names: Nederwiek, Lagelander, Doordewind. The names originated from a naming competition in which almost 6000 people took part. The other two reconfirmed areas are the northern part of IJmuiden Ver and the southern part of Hollandse Kust (west).