Next Saturday, May 17, the superstructure of the Hollandse Kust (West Beta) platform, managed by TenneT, will depart from the port of Hoboken, Antwerp, for the North Sea. North Sea.
This upper module weighing more than 3,500 tons will sail on a floating pontoon, progressing through the Western Scheldt estuary and skirting the city of Vlissingen until it reaches its final location. There, some 50 km off the coast of Egmond aan Zee, the platform will be installed on its chassis previously anchored to the seabed from May 2024.
In the coming days, the lifting operation will be carried out by the installation vessel Sleipnir installation vessel Sleipnirbelonging to Heerema Marine Contractors. This specialized offshore vessel will lift the 45-meter long and 20-meter wide structure, positioning it precisely on the jacket, thus consolidating the necessary infrastructure for the electrical connection.
The importance of the Hollandse Kust platform
The platform will play a key role in the grid integration of the Hollandse Kust West Beta wind farm, operated by RWE/OranjeWind. This 700 megawatt connection is expected to feed directly into the Wijk aan Zee transformer station, strengthening the supply of green energy for the Netherlands.
With commissioning scheduled for this year, this facility will represent the third 700 MW offshore link in the northern region, bringing the total installed capacity in the Dutch North Sea from 4.7 to 6.1 gigawatts in the coming years. Simultaneously, TenneT is advancing its new 2 GW offshore connection projects from Maasvlakte 2 and Borssele, aligned with the national target of reaching 21 gigawatts of offshore wind generation by 2032.
This operation reaffirms TenneT’s position as a reference grid operator in the European energy transition, consolidating its key role in connecting large-scale wind projects to the continental grid.
Follow us on social media and don’t miss any of our posts!
YouTube LinkedIn Facebook Instagram X (Twitter) TikTok
Source and photo: Jaap Nijland, Project Manager Offshore NL at TenneT.
