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energy<br />
magazine<br />
#1<br />
Volume 7<br />
March<br />
<strong>2020</strong><br />
Rotor blades<br />
Optimisation for improved turbine performance<br />
Interview Pure Energie<br />
The development of wind projects on<br />
land is much more an organic process<br />
than offshore. Renewable energy<br />
developer Pure Energie explains.<br />
u 06 - 09<br />
Rotor blade optimisation<br />
Rotor blades have long been an<br />
undervalued part of a wind turbine.<br />
Their quality, however, impacts the<br />
wind turbine performance.<br />
u 25 - 36<br />
Financing wind<br />
Rabobank - Project Finance shares<br />
their vision on subsidy-free tenders<br />
+ how can citizens participate in<br />
wind?<br />
u 12 - 21
We know which way<br />
the wind blows.<br />
ENVIR Advocaten is the expert if it comes to wind energy projects, whether<br />
it concerns permits or administrative proceedings. Together with our clients<br />
ENVIR Advocaten creates a fast, efficient and uncomplicated permit process.<br />
We combine our expertise and experience for clear analyses and practical<br />
solutions, so together we achieve the best result.<br />
ENVIR Advocaten The specialist in environmental law and administrative law<br />
www.envir-advocaten.com
Editor’s note<br />
The ‘weakest<br />
link’<br />
When you attend the many wind<br />
energy related networking events,<br />
you notice how thriving this Dutch<br />
industry is. It is therefore sometimes<br />
hard to imagine that with all our expertise in almost<br />
every aspect of wind energy development and in<br />
technology and innovations, the Netherlands is ranked<br />
last on the list of EU countries when it comes to the<br />
share of energy from renewables.<br />
The Netherlands has a catching-up to do and it knows it by<br />
now. The 2<strong>01</strong>9 Climate Agreement provides a clear strategy to<br />
combat climate change by reducing CO2 emissions with 49% by<br />
2030 compared to 1990. Wind energy, both onshore and offshore,<br />
will contribute significantly in achieving this ambition. The production<br />
of electricity from offshore wind is set to increase to 48 TWh and onshore<br />
to 39 TWh by 2030.<br />
34<br />
Rotor blade<br />
inspection<br />
The Regional Energy Strategies (RES) ensure that it is not just a playing field for<br />
commercial players. Required citizen participation must ensure that the local<br />
community also benefits directly from the renewable energy projects that are being<br />
built in their ‘backyards’. But when you are a developer, what is the best participation<br />
strategy for your project? Or for the politician who is responsible for the RES in his<br />
municipality? Wind Energy Magazine spoke to renewable energy developer Pure<br />
Energie and Leon Pulles, an advisor on this topic.<br />
While onshore wind developers and local and regional politicians are dealing with this<br />
topic, offshore it seems to become less of a necessity as the future wind farms will be<br />
built further from the coast. The timeline and rules for offshore wind projects are quite<br />
clearly defined for the coming years and the cost of offshore wind energy is dropping<br />
beyond expectation, to the point that the last tenders resulted to be subsidy-free.<br />
But, how long will this last? What if the steel and interest rates rise again? We asked the<br />
Project Finance department of Rabobank responsible for renewable energy financing.<br />
A main part of this edition is focused on rotor blades, an essential but at the same time<br />
very sensitive component (or weakest link) of a wind turbine. We have invited a few<br />
Dutch players to share their view in the area of maintenance and inspection, blade to<br />
hub connection, and the afterlife of rotor blades, amongst others. These are just a few<br />
examples of Dutch expertise and innovative entrepreneurship in this area. While the<br />
focus here is on the quality of the rotor blades mainly, there are more activities related to<br />
rotor blades that remain undiscussed, such as the installation techniques.<br />
This, we save for the next edition, out in September!<br />
‘What is the best<br />
participation<br />
strategy?’<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Editor in Chief<br />
Wind Energy Magazine<br />
presswem@vakbladen.com<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 3
Contents<br />
Interview<br />
Pure Energie 06<br />
Rabobank - Project Finance 18<br />
Theme: Rotor blades<br />
We4Ce Root Bushing Solution 26<br />
Boltlife’s blade to hub flange connection methodology 28<br />
Kader - Proper blade maintenance for optimal turbine performance 30<br />
Alternatives on afterlife use of amortized rotor blades 34<br />
Cross-sectoral collaboration for innovation & automation 36<br />
Also in this edition:<br />
Citizen participation in the energy tranistion 12<br />
Winner Offshore Wind Innovation Challenge 2<strong>01</strong>9 38<br />
Cover<br />
The rotor blades for Gemini OWF<br />
© Gemini<br />
Regular features:<br />
Onshore Wind Farm News 10<br />
Wind Statistics 15<br />
Column: ENVIR Advocaten 17<br />
Offshore Wind Farm News 22<br />
Column: ECN 25<br />
General News 40<br />
Agenda 42<br />
24 -36<br />
Theme:<br />
Rotor blades<br />
Colofon<br />
energy<br />
magazine<br />
VOLUME 7 | MARCH <strong>2020</strong> | ISSUE <strong>01</strong><br />
Wind Energy Magazine, a trade magazine for<br />
professionals who are involved or interested in<br />
onshore and offshore wind energy developments<br />
in the Netherlands.<br />
Publication:<br />
Wind Energy Magazine is published twice a year.<br />
Publisher:<br />
Rik Stuivenberg<br />
Publishing company:<br />
Vakbladen.com<br />
Enthovenplein 1 (5th floor), 2521 DA Den Haag,<br />
the Netherlands<br />
PO box 19949, 2500 CX Den Haag, the<br />
Netherlands<br />
Website:<br />
www.windenergie-magazine.nl<br />
www.windenergie-nieuws.nl<br />
Editor in Chief:<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Contributors to this edition:<br />
Peter Eecen, Benno Boeters, Mischa Brendel,<br />
Erick Vermeulen, Edo Kuipers<br />
Martijn Koelers, Iref Joeman<br />
Cover image:<br />
The rotor blades for Gemini OWF<br />
© Gemini<br />
Advertising:<br />
Archer Media B.V.<br />
Jos Raaphorst, account manager<br />
Tel. +31 (0)88 22 66 682<br />
E-mail: j.raaphorst@archermedia.nl<br />
Artwork:<br />
Archer Media B.V.<br />
E-mail: traffic@archermedia.nl<br />
Subscription service:<br />
Mijntijdschrift.com<br />
Curieweg 16<br />
8<strong>01</strong>3 RA Zwolle<br />
Tel. +31 (0)88 22 666 80<br />
E-mail: abonnementen@vakbladen.com<br />
Subscription fees, annual:<br />
The Netherlands/Belgium:<br />
€ 40 (incl. VAT)<br />
EU & ROW: € 60 (incl. VAT)<br />
Subscriptions may start at any moment and will be<br />
automatically renewed after a year. Subscriptions<br />
can be cancelled two months prior to the end of the<br />
subscription period.<br />
ISSN 2352-7560<br />
Copyright © <strong>2020</strong> Vakbladen.com<br />
The publisher does not necessarily agree with the<br />
views expressed by the contributors, nor does he<br />
accept any responsibility for any errors of<br />
translation in the subject matter of this publication.<br />
No part of this publication may be reproduced and/<br />
or published by means of print, photocopy, microfilm<br />
or any other medium, without the prior written<br />
consent of the publisher.<br />
Personal data:<br />
Wind Energy Magazine records reader data for the<br />
purpose of distribution of the magazine. These data<br />
may be used to inform you about our other services<br />
or products.<br />
Design:<br />
Content Innovators<br />
Printed by: Veldhuis Media, Raalte<br />
4 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
12<br />
Citizen participation in the energy<br />
tranistion<br />
Citizen participation is made a<br />
requirement in the Regional Energy Strategies.<br />
It should help gain more social acceptance for<br />
future onshore wind projects. What are the<br />
best strategies?<br />
06<br />
18<br />
The development of onshore wind projects is an organic process<br />
What started with a single turbine on a farmer’s grounds in Zeewolde, Flevoland,<br />
developed overtime into a mature company that currently owns and operates 70<br />
wind turbines located all over the country, has another 60 granted, and now also<br />
develops solar energy. An interview with renewable energy developer Pure<br />
Energie.<br />
Interview with Rabobank - Project Finance<br />
Rabobank has been a front runner in financing<br />
large wind farms. Pieter Plantinga and Marc<br />
Schmitz of Rabobank - Project Finance look<br />
back on their experience so far.<br />
38<br />
25-36<br />
Rotor blades<br />
Rotor blades are a vital component of a wind turbine. The<br />
quality of a rotor blade has direct impact on the efficiency of the<br />
turbine output. Rotor blades are also one of the most sensitive<br />
components which come with many challenges.<br />
Noise barrier with air bubbles for piling activities<br />
Marine Performance Systems develops a system with air<br />
bubbles that absorb and reduce noise. In December 2<strong>01</strong>9, the<br />
company won with its concept the 2<strong>01</strong>9 edition of the Offshore<br />
Wind Innovation Challenge.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 5
Interview<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Developing wind onshore is an organic process<br />
In 1995, Dutch entrepreneur Alfons Wispels founded<br />
Raedthuys to develop onshore wind energy. What<br />
started with a single turbine on a farmer’s grounds in<br />
Zeewolde, Flevoland, developed overtime into a mature<br />
company that currently owns and operates 70 wind<br />
turbines located all over the country, has another 60<br />
granted and now also develops solar energy. Last year,<br />
all business activities were united under one single<br />
brand; Pure Energie.<br />
Pure<br />
Energie<br />
6 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong><br />
De Veenwieken Wind Farm, all photos, courtesy of Pure Energie
Wind Energy Magazine spoke to Pure Energie’s<br />
director wind energy Arthur Vermeulen at the office<br />
in Enschede. In his role, Vermeulen is involved<br />
from the start, when a project is still an idea, up to<br />
the moment financial close is reached and construction can start.<br />
He has been working in onshore wind for 27 years now, of which<br />
16 years at Pure Energie and as such has witnessed from close-up<br />
how the onshore wind industry has developed ever since joining<br />
the company in 2004. Joining him at the table is communication<br />
officer Matthijs Oppenhuizen.<br />
Back in 1995, the type of wind energy development depended on<br />
the policy by each municipality. In Zeewolde there was a<br />
favourable policy for solitary wind turbines on agricultural<br />
grounds, explains Vermeulen. The idea was to finance the wind<br />
turbine with capital from private individuals who would together<br />
own the wind turbine. For farmers this was not their core business<br />
therefore they asked parties like Raedthuys to manage the process<br />
and build the wind turbines. The first wind turbine was installed<br />
two years later, in 1997. In the eastern part of Flevoland, the policy<br />
was more favourable towards clustered wind turbines in line<br />
position and further away from residencies.<br />
Vermeulen: “When the financial participation periods came to an<br />
end, the company started to take ownership of the turbines and<br />
exploit these themselves, thus becoming an utility also.” The<br />
produced power was sold at the energy market (APX). Eight years<br />
ago the company started selling electricity directly to end users<br />
also. This business unit was branded Pure Energie. In 2<strong>01</strong>9 the<br />
decision was made to unite all business activities under this name.<br />
Organic process<br />
Developing wind energy projects in the past was still a pioneering<br />
activity. Vermeulen elaborates: “At the start of this century there<br />
was no real local or provincial land-use planning. We just went out<br />
there and looked for possible locations and started talking to the<br />
local politicians to get their permission. In general we received<br />
more no’s than a yes.”<br />
At some point the objective by the national government was<br />
formulated for 1,500 megawatts of onshore wind energy by 2<strong>01</strong>0.<br />
Provinces slowly started to pay attention. However, it only really<br />
became part of their agenda in 2<strong>01</strong>3, when the Energy Agreement<br />
was formulated, requiring 6,000 megawatts by <strong>2020</strong>. The target<br />
was divided amongst the provinces who each started to formulate<br />
their land-use planning policies to facilitate this.<br />
“Our search area became more defined now”, said Vermeulen, “we<br />
would either approach owners of parcels that were identified for<br />
potential wind energy development or the other way round; these<br />
landowners approached us to help them develop.” This does not<br />
mean that it is always easy to start developing projects.<br />
Oppenhuizen explains: “Whereas offshore there is currently one<br />
policy for developing wind and a more clearly stipulated process to<br />
realise it, onshore this can vary with each municipality. Each can<br />
have different requirements with regards to tip height limitations,<br />
minimum distances from the built environment, the type of citizen<br />
involvement and requirements for financial participation. Also,<br />
these requirements can change every four years when new<br />
elections take place.” Vermeulen agrees: “It is much more an<br />
organic process.”<br />
Both men also agree that it is not always easy for local politicians.<br />
Vermeulen: “They need to serve the local interest but at the same<br />
time decide on a project that serves a global interest.”<br />
Oppenhuizen elaborates: “In the eyes of a local community, three<br />
wind turbines might already seem a large project but on a national<br />
or global scale this is just a tiny contribution to the sustainability<br />
targets. This brings along quite a dynamic.”<br />
He provides the example of the wind farm De Veenwieken in the<br />
province of Overijssel where a height limitation of 150 metres was<br />
set to answer to the wishes of the community who wanted turbines<br />
without lights. As a consequence, it was not possible to use the full<br />
production potential for the location. “You are basically moving<br />
the problem to another location as the ‘lost’ capacity would still be<br />
‘We should stop talking<br />
about megawatts. Metres,<br />
that of the hub height and rotor<br />
diameter, not megawatts<br />
determine the output’<br />
installed somewhere”, he says. Vermeulen adds that in Emmen the<br />
company even withdrew a plan for a wind farm. Here the council<br />
also did not allow for wind turbines with tip heights above 150<br />
metres. “With the decreasing trend of the SDE, unfortunately this<br />
meant that our business case would become unviable”, he explains.<br />
Political clarity and consistency<br />
Vermeulen: “For a project to succeed it is very important that the<br />
responsible politician, like the alderman in the municipality, firmly<br />
supports the project and sends a clear message to its community as<br />
to the why. It is okay to take the time to properly prepare the<br />
environmental research before starting the formal process. It is also<br />
a good thing that citizens are given a formal saying, this is part of<br />
our democracy which we should treasure. However, there is too<br />
much time wasted on political bickering and this is in no one’s<br />
interest. It delays the project and creates unclarity.”<br />
“The average lead time is ten years. This could also be four years”,<br />
he continues. He provides the example of the Drentse Monden en<br />
Oostermoer wind farm that has already been going on for twenty<br />
years. “The first ten years the initiative was put on hold due to lack<br />
of political will. Both province and the municipality were looking<br />
at each other”, he explains.<br />
Oppenhuizen agrees: “There should be quicker decision making<br />
and when a decision is made then stick to it.” The Elzenburg-De<br />
Geer wind farm, near Oss, is a good example where the municipal<br />
council has, in his opinion, done everything well. “They were<br />
meticulous and clear and just set out to do it as initially planned.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 7
Interview<br />
This provides more peace for everyone involved. And it worked,<br />
there were hardly any appeals.”<br />
The discussion should also be more qualitative. Vermeulen: “We<br />
can see it with the RES (Regionale Energiestrategie). Often the<br />
ambition for the energy transition is there with the municipal<br />
councils. They set very ambitious targets but then don’t always<br />
know how to proceed. The frameworks in the RES are not always<br />
fitted. When it already goes wrong at the basis, then you are off to a<br />
poor start.”<br />
“They often have never dealt with wind turbines before, and that’s<br />
no blame on them. Most people never dealt with wind turbines<br />
before. We on the other hand have been doing this for 25 years”, he<br />
says, “we know what we are talking about. Come and talk to us.”<br />
Oppenhuizen agrees: “They are often hesitant because we are a<br />
commercial player but in practise sometimes the participating<br />
parties end up contacting us one by one with questions anyway.<br />
Why not invite us at the start, even if it is just over coffee!”<br />
Well-informed citizens<br />
Vermeulen and Oppenhuizen think that if politicians show more<br />
firm support to a project and are better informed then this could<br />
also help the local community to understand wind energy better<br />
and possibly take away some of the objections towards it.<br />
Vermeulen: “It’s a shame that we cannot always use the full<br />
potential of a project location as it also means that the revenue is<br />
lower. Revenue that could have been used for the community.”<br />
He refers to the general thought that bigger turbines mean more<br />
impact. “In practise it doesn’t really matter for your experience<br />
whether you see a wind turbine with a tip height of 150 or 200<br />
metres. In fact, larger turbines are in general more modern and<br />
have less noise impact. For cast shadow the rules dictate a<br />
restriction of 6 hours per year. This remains the same however<br />
many turbines you place or how ever tall they are.”<br />
Another misunderstanding, according to Oppenhuizen, is that one<br />
megawatt solar energy equals one megawatt wind energy. “We<br />
should stop talking about megawatts. In fact, metres, that of the<br />
hub height and rotor diameter, not megawatts determine the<br />
output. And it is the output that is the most important factor now<br />
that the SDE is getting lower!” he says. He illustrates this by<br />
referring to the Kloosterlanden and De Veenwieken projects. “In<br />
both locations we installed 2.35 MW turbines but at De<br />
Veenwieken they are 20 metres higher so the output is higher.”<br />
Citizen participation<br />
Participation of citizens in a project is seen as a way to gain more<br />
social acceptance for the project. In the RES it has even become a<br />
requirement. The Kloosterlanden project in Deventer, consisting of<br />
two wind turbines which became operational in 2<strong>01</strong>5, was Pure<br />
Energie’s first real project with an energy cooperative. Here the<br />
cooperative, Deventer Energie Coöperatie, owns 25% of the<br />
project. Since then, the company always works together with<br />
energy cooperatives when developing new projects. They have a<br />
strict policy on this; the risks should be evenly spread so<br />
participation should take place in all phases.<br />
Having an energy cooperative on your side makes the meetings<br />
with the councils more easy and provides a higher chance of<br />
success, explains Oppenhuizen. “I don’t necessarily believe that<br />
involving an energy cooperative shortens the development process<br />
or makes the project less expensive. However, offering the local<br />
community the possibility to financially participate could, besides<br />
financial gain, lead to an increased feeling of involvement in the<br />
project. Also, as an outsider we have little to none understanding of<br />
the sentiments within the community so working with a local<br />
partner helps.”<br />
The idea of working with other parties is not entirely new to the<br />
company so the switch to the participation model was a swift one.<br />
Vermeulen: “When you look at it, the foundation for citizen<br />
participation was already laid with the first wind project in 1995.<br />
Although, back then, the reason for participation was different,<br />
pure economical, and not yet per se as a means to engage the local<br />
community. The private investors were not yet organised and did<br />
not have to be from the local community.“<br />
The real turn towards this model came when they won a tender for<br />
the development of one wind turbine in Den Bosch, he says. Here<br />
the council required that local citizens could participate financially<br />
and the generated electricity to be used locally. “We offered a wind<br />
bond, something we had already been thinking about for a while.<br />
That was actually the birth of the wind bond in the Netherlands”,<br />
he explains. From that moment on this became the blue print for<br />
developing their wind energy projects and this was copied by the<br />
market also.<br />
<strong>2020</strong> activities<br />
In the next few years Pure Energie will add 60 more turbines to its<br />
portfolio. In <strong>2020</strong>, the Deil Wind Farm along the A15 will become<br />
operational. Here, Pure Energie owns two of the eleven turbines.<br />
Construction work will start in the wind farms Drentse Monden<br />
en Oostermoer (12 turbines), Weijerswold (2 turbines), Bijvanck<br />
(4 turbines) and Rietvelden (3 turbines), and possibly the company<br />
will receive the definite permit for the Koningspleij project in the<br />
first half of this year. Oppenhuizen: “At the moment we have a 250<br />
GWh/y production volume. We received permits for 9 projects with<br />
a volume of 900 GWh/y, of which 400 GWh/y for the Windplan<br />
Groen wind farm, so we are multiplying our volume four times.”<br />
Just before the end of 2<strong>01</strong>9 the company announced a cooperation<br />
with an energy cooperative; ‘LochemEnergie’. “We will continue to<br />
look for new partnerships throughout <strong>2020</strong>”, he adds.<br />
8 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Aerial view on the 2 turbines in Deventer<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 9
Onshore<br />
Wind Farm News<br />
Haringvliet Zuid © Eneco<br />
1<br />
Nij Hiddum-Houw<br />
Gooyum Houw BV and<br />
Vattenfall received green light<br />
for their repowering project<br />
near the Afsluitdijk, in the municipality<br />
of Súdwest-Fryslân.<br />
The current wind farm Nij<br />
Hiddum-Houw has been operational<br />
since 1995. The 10<br />
Vestas turbines (7 owned by<br />
Vattenfall and 3 by Brouwer<br />
Windturbines B.V.) with a total<br />
installed capacity of 5 MW, are<br />
being replaced by 9 larger,<br />
more powerful turbines. In<br />
addition, 6 nearby located<br />
solitary turbines are being dismantled.<br />
The new combined<br />
installed capacity is 42 MW.<br />
2<br />
Nij Hiddum-Houw<br />
Waardpolder<br />
All 6 wind turbines in<br />
Waardpolder Wind Farm,<br />
located in the municipality of<br />
Hollands Kroon, are operational.<br />
The wind farm is a project<br />
by WP Energiek. It concerns a<br />
repowering project whereby<br />
the original 19 wind turbines<br />
were replaced by 6 modern,<br />
more powerful models. Until<br />
recently, the wind farm comprised<br />
of 19 Nedwind turbines<br />
with each a rated power of<br />
250 KW/h. The construction<br />
of the six wind turbines was<br />
completed in November 2<strong>01</strong>9.<br />
The new turbines are from<br />
Nordex. These turbines, type<br />
N131, have a hub height of 120<br />
m, a rotor diameter of 131 m,<br />
and a rated output of 3.6 MW.<br />
1<br />
3<br />
De Drentse Monden en<br />
Oostermoer<br />
The 175.5 MW De Drentse<br />
Monden en Oostermoer Wind<br />
Farm reached financial close<br />
at the start of <strong>2020</strong>. The<br />
initiators are Duurzame<br />
Energieproductie Exloërmond<br />
BV, Windpark Oostermoer<br />
Exploitatie BV, Pure Energie<br />
and De Windvogel. The wind<br />
farm will feature 45 Nordex<br />
N131/3900 turbines, to be<br />
installed in 6 linear positions.<br />
Each has a rated power of 3.9<br />
MW, axis height of 145 m and<br />
a rotor diameter of 131 m.<br />
Agreements have been made<br />
between the initiators and<br />
ASTRON, the owner of the<br />
nearby located LOFAR telescope,<br />
to reduce the amount<br />
of EMC radiation with 35 dB<br />
compared to the norm. A first<br />
turbine was installed in August<br />
2<strong>01</strong>9 to perform tests. The<br />
tests were successful. The<br />
project in the municipalities of<br />
Borger-Odoorn and Aa en<br />
Hunze will be completed in<br />
2021.<br />
4<br />
Maasvlakte 2<br />
Eneco won the tender for the<br />
Maasvlakte 2 wind farm. With<br />
a capacity of around 100 MW,<br />
this future wind farm will be<br />
the company’s biggest onshore<br />
wind project. The wind farm<br />
will be built on top of a flood<br />
defence in the Maasvlakte 2<br />
industrial area and will generate<br />
around 416 GWh of green<br />
power. Eneco expects to start<br />
the preparatory works for the<br />
construction in 2022 and<br />
complete the wind farm in<br />
2023. Rijkswaterstaat will<br />
purchase the generated electricity<br />
under a 25-year PPA.<br />
5<br />
Westersepolder<br />
Construction activities are<br />
ongoing in the onshore wind<br />
farm Westersepolder, located<br />
near Numansdorp, in the<br />
municipality of Cromstrijen.<br />
The 7 original turbines with a<br />
combined capacity of 3.5 MW<br />
are being replaced by 5<br />
Enercon E-126 EP 3 turbines<br />
with each a capacity of 4.2<br />
MW. Westersepolder wind<br />
farm has been operating for<br />
almost 20 years. The project<br />
is an initiative by Investment<br />
Engineering Projects and is<br />
expected to become operational<br />
this summer of <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
6<br />
Energiepark Haringvliet<br />
Zuid<br />
Vattenfall is currently building<br />
a 54 MW energy parc in the<br />
Van Pallandtpolder in<br />
Haringvliet, near the town of<br />
Middelharnis. The energy project<br />
will feature 124,000 solar<br />
panels in an area of around 30<br />
hectares and 6 wind turbines.<br />
Also included are 6 batteries,<br />
combined the size of a sea<br />
container, for energy storage.<br />
In the first half of February the<br />
installation of the first of 6<br />
Nordex N117/3675 wind turbines<br />
was completed. Vattenfall<br />
reached financial close at the<br />
end of 2<strong>01</strong>8. The first preparatory<br />
work started early 2<strong>01</strong>9.<br />
Completion of the full project<br />
is planned for late <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
7<br />
Piet de Wit<br />
Early February, De Plaet BV, a<br />
joint venture of Promill BV and<br />
Cooperatie Deltawind, received<br />
green light for the repowering<br />
of a wind farm near<br />
Ooltgensplaat in the municipality<br />
of Goeree-Overflakkee<br />
that has been operating since<br />
2003. The 12 old Vestas V66<br />
wind turbines will be replaced<br />
by 7 more powerful ones that<br />
can have a maximum height of<br />
150 metres. The initiators are<br />
currently in the process of selecting<br />
the turbine supplier.<br />
The wind farm is expected to<br />
become operational sometime<br />
in 2021. By replacing the old<br />
turbines, the capacity will rise<br />
from 24 to 30 MW.<br />
8<br />
6<br />
Egchelse Heide<br />
At the end of January the wind<br />
farm Egchelse Heide, located<br />
in the municipality of Peel en<br />
Maas, received green light.<br />
The wind farm is an initiative<br />
by energy cooperative Peel<br />
Energie and local farmers and<br />
will feature 5 wind turbines<br />
with a maximum height of 210<br />
m. Financial close is expected<br />
in the summer. The turbines<br />
are likely to be installed early<br />
2021 and will start generating<br />
power in Q2 of 2021.<br />
10 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong><br />
Egchelse Heide© Pouderoyen.nl
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
6<br />
7<br />
5<br />
8<br />
Read the full news<br />
on www.windenergymagazine.com<br />
(EN) or<br />
www.windenergienieuws.nl<br />
(NL)<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 11
Interview<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Citizen participation in the energy tranistion<br />
Finding the right<br />
strategy for<br />
participation<br />
The Netherlands, albeit with a delay, is taking steps in the energy transition.<br />
Wind, both onshore and offshore, is a large driver in the transition and many<br />
gigawatts of it will be needed. Especially onshore, social acceptance is vital in<br />
ensuring that these megawatts will be realised. So vital that local participation<br />
has been included as a requirement in the Regional Energy Strategies.<br />
Wind Energy Magazine spoke to Leon Pulles,<br />
managing partner of Energy Investment<br />
Management BV who advises sustainable energy<br />
developers in setting up participation strategies for<br />
their projects.<br />
Pulles: “The Netherlands has waited for a long time before<br />
starting the energy transition. People were in general not really<br />
engaged in energy matters.” As the pressure grew from the<br />
European Union, something had to be done. That’s when the<br />
government introduced the SDE subsidy scheme. Things started<br />
speeding up and the number of wind and solar farms were rising.<br />
Not long after, the energy transition became a more frequent topic<br />
on the news and people were actually starting to look at their<br />
energy bills. People started to have an opinion on the subject, not<br />
always positive. In addition to the ‘Not in my backyard’ sentiment,<br />
there was also another sentiment growing, that our country was<br />
too small to make a difference. Is it worth spending that much<br />
money on the energy transition?, he explains.<br />
‘With each project you will need<br />
to identify what type of<br />
participation is most suitable’<br />
Topic at birthday parties<br />
“We all benefitted from the industrial revolution, we should now<br />
not walk away from our responsibilities in the energy transition”,<br />
Pulles says. Getting people involved could create broad support<br />
for the energy transition. He mentions Stephanie Platschorre from<br />
the Erasmus University who performed a research on what<br />
motivates people to financially participate in renewable energy<br />
projects through crowdfunding. [1] Her research showed that few<br />
people are really consciously involved.<br />
It is therefore advisable for developers to engage the community in<br />
their project as soon as possible, especially when the project is<br />
planned in a challenging surrounding, he says, “go talk to the local<br />
people, explain them your plans and talk them through the<br />
different phases of the project. When possible, take them to a<br />
comparable project. Let them, within certain set boundaries, have<br />
a saying and ask them how they would like to participate.”<br />
Getting citizens involved in an energy project is not entirely new.<br />
He provides an example of a critical project that was handled<br />
adequately in his opinion. He refers to the case of waste disposal<br />
company HVC in the eighties. In the province of Noord Holland<br />
dioxin was encountered in the milk. The root was traced back to<br />
the waste disposal company of HVC. This was very much a major<br />
issue in those days. In the end, HVC wanted to build a new<br />
factory that would comply to the new regulations imposed. They<br />
went into a dialogue with the people in the neighbouring area in<br />
12 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Stephanie Platschorre, Leon Pulles and Noortje van Heijst<br />
order for them to gain trust in the new factory. Small testing<br />
grounds were created for free to monitor and measure the dioxin<br />
level. These became the ambassadors for the project.<br />
Pulles also provides an example of a wind energy project in<br />
Harderwijk in which he is currently involved. This project is being<br />
developed by the municipality itself. Here the municipality asked<br />
high school youngsters to share their thoughts on setting up a<br />
fund. In this so-called ‘Wind challenge’, three teams of each five<br />
youngsters created interesting concepts. Pulles: “They took their<br />
task very seriously and came up with some good ideas. During the<br />
development of the wind energy project some people actually<br />
stood up and became involved, including influential people in the<br />
community. These people should be involved in the entire process,<br />
as ambassadors!”<br />
Informing and involving people will provide a clearer picture of a<br />
project. In the most positive case, people will get involved or<br />
otherwise become neutral. “Find ambassadors who will share the<br />
message”, he says, “it should become the topic during birthday<br />
parties!” Of course, you will always have people who remain<br />
negative, he adds.<br />
Participation options<br />
Having the local community involved is not only advisable, since<br />
the introduction of the Regional Energy Strategies (RES) as part<br />
of the 2<strong>01</strong>9 Climate Agreement, it is now also a requirement. The<br />
RES dictates that all new renewable projects require 50% local<br />
participation.<br />
There are several options for developers to execute this, directly by<br />
offering shares or loans, or indirectly by setting up a sustainability<br />
fund whereby part of the revenue from the wind farm is reserved<br />
for green initiatives that improve the local community, or<br />
providing other local benefits.<br />
People participate for different reasons. Pulles refers again to the<br />
study by Platschorre. Her research identifies several motivations<br />
for people to participate, one of them being financial return, of at<br />
least a 6, 7 % on the investment. Another motivation is to witness<br />
the social or sustainable impact of their financial participation. In<br />
addition, it is also often seen as a way to learn new things.<br />
“Therefore, with each project you will need to identify what type<br />
of participation is most suitable. Is the project going to be located<br />
in a densely or sparsely populated area? What is the financial<br />
capacity of the local population? How strong is the sense of<br />
community identity?” he explains.<br />
In the Harderwijk case, the community was initially provided four<br />
participation options; shares, loans, sustainability fund or discount<br />
on the energy bill. Here, the collective was given priority over<br />
individual benefits and the choice was made for green initiatives<br />
via the sustainability fund.<br />
In the case of the onshore Krammer Wind Farm, in the province<br />
of Zeeland, participation took place through crowdfunding. This<br />
was a logical step as the initiators of the wind farm were citizen<br />
cooperatives. They already had a large support base through their<br />
members. Within a short period of time ten million Euro was<br />
raised.<br />
Opening Krammer Wind Farm<br />
Pulles was also involved in the Westermeerwind project. Here, the<br />
community participated for a total of more than nine million Euro<br />
13 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 13
Interview<br />
in equity and loans. “We were expecting, based on<br />
questionnaires earlier on in the project, that there was<br />
much more interest in shares than loans. This<br />
demonstrates that people only really decide when the<br />
moment is there.”<br />
Financial participation<br />
With regards to financial participation, Pulles thinks<br />
the wind energy industry had to get used to this<br />
becoming part of the business case. “It seems like<br />
players in the solar energy industry are more<br />
entrepreneurial in this field. Perhaps it is because<br />
wind has been there for much longer. In solar, most<br />
players are relatively new and are used to this<br />
concept from day one.”<br />
“In onshore wind<br />
energy development<br />
the main theme is<br />
social acceptance. That<br />
is already an important<br />
driver to make<br />
participation part of<br />
your project. Financial<br />
participation is a good<br />
way to do so. Of course<br />
you need to look at each<br />
individual project but in<br />
seventy percent of the<br />
cases, it works. The<br />
question then rises; what<br />
do you want, as a developer, to share from your business case<br />
point of view?”, he explains.<br />
Participation generally takes place when financial close is reached,<br />
shortly before the construction starts. That is when the definite<br />
financial budget is determined and estimations can be made on<br />
the returns in participation. From a project developer point of<br />
view you would like it to be the sooner the better as the project<br />
development, the period up to financial close, could easily take<br />
between six to ten years for wind energy projects, says Pulles. “In<br />
the case of the Westermeerwind project, the initiators of the<br />
project wanted to have local participation to be introduced sooner<br />
in the project, however the banks involved required the project to<br />
become operational first. “This created a tension field”, he adds.<br />
Participation in an early phase is possible, according to Pulles.<br />
However, it is not possible to determine an interest rate because<br />
there is no definite budget available yet. There is also the risk<br />
factor. “People get their returns when the wind farm is<br />
operational, at an early stage you cannot set that moment in stone.<br />
‘Financial participation<br />
should not be a stand-alone act’<br />
Poster announcements for<br />
financial participation and<br />
sustainability fund<br />
It is however the right time<br />
to already start talking to<br />
the locals because financial<br />
participation should not be<br />
a stand-alone act”, he says.<br />
There is also the discussion<br />
on the height of<br />
participation. Especially<br />
from the point of view of an<br />
Alderman of the<br />
municipality he would ideally wish for people<br />
that are less financially capable to be able to<br />
participate also. In that case, a sustainability<br />
fund in addition to financial participation via<br />
equity and loans would be the best option.<br />
Future outlook<br />
Pulles is convinced that financial participation<br />
will occur more often, especially with the<br />
RES, and developers will be smart enough to do so. People will<br />
also get more used in participating in wind energy projects. Solar<br />
energy projects are less complex than their wind counter parts and<br />
are developed quicker. People tend to understand solar energy<br />
better and are more likely to accept and participate in these<br />
projects, he says. “However, they do not always understand that,<br />
for example, a four megawatt solar project is not the same as a<br />
four megawatt wind project. I also don’t think they quite realise<br />
how many solar fields will be realised in the next few years. The<br />
last SDE+ rounds showed more solar applications than wind<br />
applications, I wonder how they will feel about solar energy when<br />
all these projects are realised”, he explains.<br />
We also have to wait and see how the SDE++ will develop and<br />
how the energy transition will take shape, he thinks. “With the<br />
SDE+ scheme, we were able to look ahead twelve to fifteen years.<br />
In this scheme, banks are generally involved one or two years less<br />
than the SDE period. It is hard to say how this will be with the<br />
SDE++, and possible other future arrangements”, he explains.<br />
And there is the human element, what will happen if people have<br />
been participating for a long period of time. What kind of returns<br />
will they expect? It is very important that the renewable energy<br />
sector tries to involve as many as possible citizens to create<br />
understanding and support for the Dutch energy transition.<br />
1. Research was based on interviews and questionnaires among<br />
Oneplanetcrowd.com en Crowdfundmarkt.nl crowdfunding platforms.<br />
14 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Statistics<br />
Sustainable development made easy<br />
Do you want to make an entry into the Dutch<br />
wind market or are you simply interested in<br />
keeping up to date on what wind farms are being<br />
commissioned in the Netherlands?<br />
!( Commissioned in 2<strong>01</strong>9<br />
2005<br />
2<strong>01</strong>0<br />
2<strong>01</strong>9<br />
Wind energy installed power in the Netherlands<br />
Subscribe to the WindStats database!<br />
Call us for more information: +31 88 22 66 682<br />
or e-mail: presswem@vakbladen.com<br />
441 MW<br />
197 MW<br />
WIND ENERGY in the<br />
NETHERLANDS<br />
2<strong>01</strong>9 in review<br />
ONSHORE<br />
3.552 MW (+192 MW)<br />
OFFSHORE<br />
957 MW<br />
TOTAL<br />
4.509 MW<br />
2.307 wind turbines<br />
!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(!(<br />
!(!(<br />
441 MW<br />
!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(!(!(!( !(!(!(!(!(!( !(!(!(!(!(!( !(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(<br />
341 MW<br />
1147 MW<br />
34 MW<br />
!(<br />
!(!(!(!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(!(!(<br />
87 MW<br />
!(!(!(<br />
31 MW<br />
!(!(<br />
!(!(!(!(!(!(<br />
67 MW<br />
!(<br />
!(!(!(<br />
!(!(!(<br />
!(!(!(!(<br />
239 MW<br />
516 MW<br />
Commissioned in 2<strong>01</strong>9<br />
MW wind turbines<br />
Drenthe<br />
Flevoland<br />
Gelderland<br />
Noord-Brabant<br />
Noord-Holland<br />
Overijssel<br />
Zeeland<br />
Zuid-Holland<br />
10<br />
14<br />
4<br />
27<br />
91<br />
30<br />
14<br />
110<br />
3<br />
7<br />
1<br />
7<br />
38<br />
13<br />
6<br />
28<br />
SOURCE: WWW.WINDSTATS.NL<br />
WindStats<br />
over windenergie in Nederland<br />
© WindStats.nl <strong>2020</strong><br />
12 MW<br />
e increase in installed power in 2<strong>01</strong>9 was higher than last year,<br />
even though 109 MW was decommissioned.<br />
e largest new wind farms are Slufter 2 (Rotterdam, 50 MW),<br />
Waardpolder (Hollands Kroon, 22 MW), Spui (Hoeksche Waard, 21<br />
MW) and Nieuwe Waterweg (Rotterdam, 21 MW). e end of the<br />
year saw the start of construction of some large wind farms,<br />
notably Wieringermeer, Drentse Monden Oostermoer, Veenwieken<br />
and Deil). ese will be commissioned in <strong>2020</strong> or 2021.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 15
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Column<br />
Erwin Noordover<br />
Lawyer at ENVIR Advocates<br />
Is financial participation the<br />
holy grail for public<br />
acceptance of wind farms?<br />
Now that the spectre of negative interest rates on savings accounts is haunting us,<br />
we are looking for investment opportunities for our savings. The energy<br />
transition provides opportunities for this as various governments offer<br />
frameworks within which citizens must be given the opportunity to participate<br />
financially in wind farms.<br />
One example is the province of Flevoland, which in its environmental regulations has set<br />
requirements for financial participation in wind farms. This includes offering the opportunity<br />
to participate financially in the project on a risk-bearing basis, based on a minimum of 2.5%<br />
of the initial total investment volume in the operational phase. However, this principle may be<br />
deviated from if the developer can demonstrate that there is insufficient interest in<br />
participation. These requirements for financial participation force developers to reach out to<br />
the public. At the same time, the government’s requirements for financial participation should<br />
not jeopardise the business case. Fortunately the Province of Flevoland has included an<br />
exception if insufficient money can be raised from the surrounding area.<br />
Can the<br />
requirement to<br />
offer financial<br />
participation be<br />
taken into<br />
account when<br />
deciding on a<br />
zoning plan?<br />
A great deal is also expected of financial participation for the public acceptance of the energy<br />
transition for which the Regional Energy Strategies are now being drawn up. A guide for<br />
participation in sustainable energy projects has been published with guidelines for<br />
participation in wind projects. Participation is herein tailor-made and the competent authority<br />
checks whether the conditions for participation have been met.<br />
In view of the importance that local authorities attach to financial participation, the question<br />
arises as to whether this participation may be conditional for the cooperation with the<br />
development of a wind farm. Can the requirement to offer financial participation be taken<br />
into account when deciding on a zoning plan? It is doubtful that financial participation is a<br />
spatially relevant aspect, as it does not affect the environment.<br />
But can the municipal council then state that the effects of a wind farm on the environment<br />
are only acceptable if the opportunity to participate financially was sufficient? This seems to<br />
be odd reasoning: the effects of a wind project are no different, but because there is a financial<br />
involvement of (part of) the surrounding area with the project, these consequences have<br />
become acceptable.<br />
If offering sufficient financial participation becomes a criteria for cooperation with a wind<br />
farm, the risk arises that a developer with deeper pockets or a specific business case will be<br />
preferred over other initiatives, even if those other initiatives are a better option for the energy<br />
transition or the environment. Hopefully the focus on financial participation will not lead to<br />
an inappropriate balancing of interests and only helps with the public acceptance of the much<br />
needed development of wind farms.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 17
Interview<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Interview with Rabobank- Project Finance<br />
‘Do you really want to risk<br />
companies supporting the<br />
industry to go bankrupt and<br />
lose thousands of jobs?’<br />
Financing wind<br />
projects in rapidly<br />
changing times<br />
When the first offshore wind farm was built in Dutch waters, no one at that time<br />
would have been able to foresee how quickly the price per megawatt hour would<br />
drop. Neither did the Rabobank. A conversation with Marc Schmitz and Pieter<br />
Plantinga, managing director and executive director respectively at Rabobank’s<br />
project finance department, responsible for renewable energy financing.<br />
18 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Marc Schmitz<br />
Pieter Plantinga<br />
Prinses Amaliawindpark © Eneco<br />
During the interview at their office in Utrecht it<br />
became instantly clear that both men have been<br />
working together for quite some time, ever since<br />
Plantinga joined the project finance team at<br />
Rabobank in 2009. Schmitz was at that time already working for<br />
the team since 1999. Prior to this, he worked for Vattenfall (back<br />
then Nuon).<br />
Their project finance team handles all large renewable energy<br />
projects in Europe with a debt amount of at least 25 million Euro.<br />
These projects include mainly solar, onshore wind and offshore<br />
wind. Other renewable energy projects, such as biomass, heat, and<br />
bio fermentation, are also dealt with within the team by separate<br />
specialists in this area of expertise.<br />
How do you look back on your cooperation so far?<br />
Schmitz: “Pieter and I built this department in Europe to what it<br />
is today. When he joined in 2009, our renewables team consisted<br />
of seven people, now we have a team of around twenty people. In<br />
addition, Rabobank has teams in India, covering renewable energy<br />
in Asia, and in the US.”<br />
Plantinga: “It was necessary to upscale and create the large, solid<br />
team as we have today. The wind energy market has matured, with<br />
more complicated structures. There is more market price risk<br />
involved now.”<br />
Schmitz: “I remember the first wind project I worked on. These<br />
were 1.65 megawatt turbines near Muiden. Look at the sizes of the<br />
turbines now. We have in the meantime worked on around twenty<br />
offshore wind energy projects, almost thirty if you include the<br />
refinancings. In the Netherlands, we were involved in the first<br />
offshore wind farm to be financed through project financing<br />
globally. In Belgium, we have been involved in all the offshore<br />
wind farms. Furthermore, we have also worked on a large number<br />
of German projects, the first French project, and on one in<br />
Taiwan. The latter, together with our team in India. Many of the<br />
companies involved in Taiwan are European so it made sense.”<br />
Plantinga: “In the onshore sphere we worked or work on several<br />
large wind farms, including, NOP Agrowind, Krammer, Vermeer<br />
and Drentse Monden.”<br />
Schmitz: “We are also active in Spain, the Nordic’s, recently the<br />
UK and Ireland again, and we are currently looking into the Polish<br />
market. Amongst these are more challenging markets due to newer<br />
structures with corporate PPA’s, including some market price<br />
risk.”<br />
The Netherlands is also developing more large onshore<br />
wind farms. Is there a huge difference in the process<br />
between onshore and offshore?<br />
Plantinga: “Although the type of financing is similar, the parties<br />
you work with are different. Offshore is very capital intensive and<br />
therefore there are larger and generally more professional sponsors<br />
in a single project. These sponsors tend to develop multiple similar<br />
projects, they know what we need from them. This market is more<br />
consolidated. Onshore, many of the old projects have been long<br />
term developments by farmers in the Netherlands. These have<br />
generally never developed a project before and will most likely not<br />
do this again. On average, only one out of three onshore projects<br />
being developed will be realised.”<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 19
‘Onshore, you also have to<br />
deal with a legacy’<br />
“Onshore, you also have to deal with a legacy. In the early days<br />
developers did not really involve the local communities. You can<br />
see the effect of it now in some parts of the Netherlands like<br />
Drenthe. This is something which needs to be addressed more and<br />
more consciously by developers in the early stages of project<br />
development. The Krammer project in the province of Zeeland is<br />
an example of how it should go, with the right set of shareholders<br />
and local participation.”<br />
Onshore there are already challenges in connecting new<br />
projects to the grid. Does this affect your business case?<br />
Plantinga: “Not in the sense that we simply don’t finance a project<br />
if the connection is not guaranteed. However, we now see private<br />
initiatives coming in who want to realise the grid connections.<br />
We are following this development and are investigating if we<br />
could finance these.”<br />
How is your team positioned in the international playing<br />
field of project financing wind energy?<br />
Schmitz: “Rabobank is a niche player but definitely a front runner<br />
in our field. For a long time we were the largest project financer of<br />
renewable energy projects in the US. In offshore wind we were<br />
involved in one of the first offshore wind farms in 2006, Q7, now<br />
called Prinses Amaliawindpark. In 2007 we helped finance the first<br />
Belgian offshore wind farm C-Power. Keep in mind that offshore<br />
wind only really became popular in 2<strong>01</strong>5, so we were almost ten<br />
years ahead of our time! In Scandinavia we were also one of the<br />
first to accept market price risk. We are involved in eight projects<br />
there.<br />
The project finance department of Rabobank excels in financing<br />
projects with a value between 100 and 500-600 million Euro.<br />
When it comes to project values of two, three billion Euro there<br />
are other players who are better equipped.”<br />
Plantinga agrees: “Another difference between us and the larger<br />
players is that they often use external advisors. We are more used<br />
in serving the entire market, especially in the Netherlands. Here<br />
we work together with the customer to set up the financial<br />
structure for their project, therefore each project is unique.”<br />
Have you ever experienced a situation where a project<br />
went too much over budget?<br />
Schmitz: “Project finance is quite straight forward, you finance a<br />
single asset with clear fund flows. With companies the money flows<br />
in all directions. With projects a technical advisor approves each<br />
drawdown based on actual progress of works. It is therefore easier<br />
to control. We have had an experience once where a project went<br />
way over budget. It then becomes a play between the banks and<br />
shareholders. In practise the shareholders will have to contribute<br />
more to the budget as they can’t risk losing the project to the<br />
bank.”<br />
Plantinga: “In addition, each project has a contingency for<br />
unexpected costs. However, I once worked on a project that went<br />
way over budget. One of the suppliers went bankrupt and could,<br />
as a consequence, not deliver the components. This had a ripple<br />
effect on the entire construction schedule. It required a<br />
tremendous effort from all parties to restructure the project!”<br />
How important is sustainability for Rabobank?<br />
Plantinga: “Sustainability has come higher and higher on the<br />
agenda of the bank over the past years. And we are asked to do<br />
more in this sector.”<br />
Schmitz: ”We actually already tried to push this many years ago<br />
but Project Finance remained under the radar for a while,<br />
amongst others due to the high capital requirements and long<br />
term debt in renewable projects.”<br />
20 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Westermeerwind Wind Farm. © Westermeerwind<br />
The subsidy-free offshore wind tenders of lately are<br />
welcomed by many. Do you share this feeling?<br />
Schmitz: “In 2<strong>01</strong>1, Rabobank, together with Bloomberg,<br />
published a study titled ‘Reaching the ten cents per kilowatt hour’.<br />
The target was <strong>2020</strong>. We, and a group of 25 industry experts, were<br />
cautious whether this was possible. Look at the price now, 6 to 7<br />
cents per KwH!”<br />
“However, I don’t think letting go of subsidies is per definition a<br />
good development. Let me put this right, I think the Dutch<br />
government is currently doing a very good job in managing the<br />
development of wind energy in our country, however, I think it<br />
would have been better to keep the subsidy system, albeit<br />
restricted to an acceptable level.”<br />
“How many risks are developers willing to take? What if the<br />
projects will not be realised? Do you really want to risk companies<br />
supporting the industry to go bankrupt and lose thousands of<br />
jobs? That’s to nobodies interest. The problem is, nobody really<br />
knows what the situation is, say, in twenty years. The low interest<br />
rate and steel price have played a positive role in the lower cost of<br />
energy. What if the interest rate would go back to the level we have<br />
seen in 2<strong>01</strong>1 or 2<strong>01</strong>3,14?”<br />
“If you want to move forward with the energy transition then you<br />
probably have to introduce the subsidy scheme again. In the past,<br />
the level of subsidy required was very high, over 100 Euro per<br />
megawatt hour. I personally think a limited subsidy, between 15 to<br />
20 Euro per megawatt hour would be perfectly fine for a project.<br />
Plantinga: “Both the UK and France have indicated not to go<br />
entirely without subsidies. The strong focus on building offshore<br />
wind farms without subsidy remains a surprise to me anyway. One<br />
tends to forget that coal and gas plants have also been supported.”<br />
Turbine sizes are increasing at a rapid speed and new<br />
technological innovations are introduced. As a bank, does<br />
this bring additional risks to the financing of wind<br />
projects?<br />
Schmitz: “The increase in turbine sizes is a continuous natural<br />
process so it is not really a big risk.”<br />
Plantinga: “Our technical advisers would probably say that further<br />
development of existing technologies sometimes pose more risks,<br />
due to things being overlooked. With new technologies, every tiny<br />
detail is tested and checked by certification bodies over and over<br />
again.”<br />
Finally, do you have a favourite wind energy project?<br />
Schmitz: “In general, the projects that were most challenging are<br />
the ones I look back on with most pride. For me these were the<br />
Westermeerwind, Belwind and NOP Agrowind projects. In these<br />
projects we had many challenges which we needed to overcome.<br />
Plantinga: “I agree with Marc’s observation, these projects on<br />
which we worked together have been more challenging but very<br />
interesting to work on, even though they generally tend to take<br />
considerably more time to bring to a financial close. In these<br />
processes you also end up building strong relationships.”<br />
Schmitz and Plantinga agree that this is something that makes<br />
them continue to enjoy this industry; the good relationships that<br />
they have built up over time which has resulted in a lot of<br />
friendships being established within the industry.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 21
Offshore<br />
Wind Farm News<br />
IJmuiden Ver, © TenneT<br />
1<br />
3<br />
4<br />
Ten Noorden van de<br />
Waddeneilanden<br />
The Netherlands Enterprise<br />
Agency (RVO.nl) has granted<br />
Fugro a geotechnical site<br />
investigation contract for the<br />
700 MW Ten Noorden van de<br />
Waddeneilanden Wind Farm<br />
Zone. The activities will take<br />
place from February to May<br />
this year.<br />
The work comprises of a<br />
shallow subsurface<br />
investigation in Phase 1,<br />
followed by a borehole drilling<br />
programme, and standard and<br />
advanced laboratory testing,<br />
in Phase 2. The final<br />
deliverable will be a data<br />
package which can be used to<br />
prepare a detailed integrated<br />
geological and geotechnical<br />
soil model, on which wind<br />
farm developers will base<br />
future tenders.<br />
2<br />
Fryslân<br />
Several construction activities<br />
are currently taking place for<br />
the 382.7 MW Fryslân wind<br />
farm. The section of the cable<br />
route on the Afsluitdijk has<br />
been completed while work<br />
continues on the section of<br />
the cable route on land to the<br />
110kV-station of TenneT in<br />
Bolsward. At the same time,<br />
work on the transformer<br />
station at Breezanddijk is stilll<br />
in progress and a start has<br />
been made on the realisation<br />
of the work island which will<br />
serve as a nature area after<br />
the wind farm has been built.<br />
This area consists of 2<br />
hectares above water level<br />
and a 25 hectares shallow<br />
water zone.<br />
3<br />
IJmuiden Ver<br />
TenneT has initiated a<br />
development process with<br />
HVDC suppliers to help design<br />
an innovative 2 GW 525 kV<br />
HVDC solution which can be<br />
used for the IJmuiden Ver<br />
Alpha and Beta connections<br />
(due in 2030) but also other<br />
future 2 GW high voltage<br />
connections like planned in<br />
Germany.<br />
The partnership includes: ABB<br />
Power Grids, GE Renewable<br />
Energy’s Grid Solutions<br />
(Netherlands), a consortium<br />
of Global Energy<br />
Interconnection Research<br />
Institute Co. Ltd. (GEIRI) &<br />
C-EPRI Electric Power<br />
Engineering Co. Ltd. (C-EPRI)<br />
(China), Siemens (Germany),<br />
and Xian Electric Engineering<br />
Co., Ltd (China). These<br />
suppliers will provide specific<br />
information on this to Iv-<br />
Offshore&Energy b.v., which is<br />
carrying out the Front-End<br />
Engineering Design (FEED)<br />
study on behalf of TenneT. On<br />
this basis, a standardised<br />
platform design will be<br />
developed for all HVDC<br />
solutions.<br />
2<br />
Hollandse Kust (Noord)<br />
The Ministry of Economic<br />
Affairs and Climate Policy<br />
published the Ministerial<br />
Order for permitting offshore<br />
wind energy Hollandse Kust<br />
(noord) Wind Farm Site V in<br />
December 2<strong>01</strong>9. It is one of<br />
three offshore wind zones<br />
identified by the Dutch<br />
government to be developed<br />
by 2023. The tender to<br />
develop the Wind Farm Site V<br />
will run from 2 April <strong>2020</strong> till<br />
30 April <strong>2020</strong>, 17:00h CEST.<br />
5<br />
Borssele 1 + 2<br />
In January, foundation<br />
installation work started in the<br />
752 MW Borssele 1 + 2<br />
offshore wind farm, a project<br />
by Ørsted. The wind farm is<br />
planned to be fully operational<br />
by the end of this year. It will<br />
then be the largest Dutch<br />
offshore wind farm. In total,<br />
94 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW<br />
wind turbines will be installed<br />
on monopile foundations<br />
some 22 kilometers off the<br />
coast of the Zeeland, at water<br />
depths varying from 14 to 39.7<br />
meters.<br />
The foundations are produced<br />
by Sif, EEW SPC, EEW OSB<br />
and Danish Bladt Industries.<br />
The installation is performed<br />
by DEME, using their heavy-lift<br />
vessel Innovation. According<br />
to Ørsted, the first turbine<br />
installation activities will start<br />
in April this year.<br />
6<br />
5<br />
North Sea Agreement<br />
In February, the government,<br />
energy sector, fishery, nature<br />
organisations and port<br />
associations presented an<br />
agreement (Onderhandelaarsakkoord)<br />
on the use of the<br />
North Sea. The Agreement<br />
has the theme ‘additional<br />
miles for a healthy North Sea’.<br />
The cabinet has now handed<br />
the Agreement to the<br />
parliament. A consultation<br />
period will take place till 31<br />
March during which the<br />
participating parties can<br />
discuss the Agreement with<br />
their members.<br />
The Agreement outlines the<br />
plans for the next ten years<br />
but also explores the period<br />
following. The government will<br />
sponsor 200 million Euro of<br />
which a large part (119 million<br />
Euro) is destined for the<br />
restructuring and greening of<br />
the cutter fleet. 12 million Euro<br />
will be made available for the<br />
safe passage of vessels during<br />
construction of the wind<br />
farms. Another 14 million Euro<br />
is reserved for enhanced<br />
supervision on the<br />
implementation of the<br />
Agreement and 55 million<br />
Euro is to go to additional<br />
monitoring, scientific research<br />
and nature conservation.<br />
© Windpark Fryslân<br />
22 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
6<br />
5<br />
Read the full news<br />
on www.windenergymagazine.com<br />
(EN) or<br />
www.windenergienieuws.nl<br />
(NL)<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 23
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Column<br />
Peter Eecen,<br />
R&D manager wind energy at TNO<br />
Sophisticated<br />
wind turbine<br />
blades<br />
Looks can be misleading. Ever larger wind turbine blades seemingly look the same<br />
as their smaller predecessors, and not everyone understands the gigantic technical<br />
developments that are required to make these larger blades. Design and<br />
manufacturing of larger blades have to fight the laws of physics. Without<br />
innovations these blades would become too heavy and too expensive to be interesting. Only<br />
the fast innovations in development of design, materials, construction, and manufacturing<br />
have made the up-scaling possible.<br />
New models in aero-elastics are required for the design of these very large blades. The tip<br />
speed of the rotor blades is usually between 80 and 100 m/s, which means that larger rotors,<br />
longer blades, rotate slower. Scaling up the aerodynamic profiles do however result in<br />
different performance compared to the smaller profiles. This is the reason that GE, LM<br />
Windpower and TNO perform an extensive aerodynamic measurement programme on the<br />
Haliade X turbine. The experiments provide the researchers the validation data to check<br />
whether improvements in design modelling are indeed correct.<br />
‘Not everyone<br />
understands the<br />
gigantic<br />
technical<br />
developments<br />
that are required<br />
to make these<br />
larger blades’<br />
To reduce the loading of the very large rotors on the support structure the large rotor blades<br />
become more slender than their smaller counterparts. This results in relatively thick<br />
aerodynamic profiles which have different aerodynamic characteristics than the presently<br />
applied thinner profiles. Reason for increasing the relative thickness of the profiles is that the<br />
height of the profile remains the same to accommodate the loads-carrying structure while the<br />
profile chord length becomes relatively smaller. These profiles are not commonly applied in<br />
other applications while the Reynold’s numbers become larger than in other applications.<br />
That means that the performance becomes uncertain and elaborate airfoil testing is required.<br />
To determine the performance under rotating conditions testing on full-scale wind turbines is<br />
required.<br />
With the increasing rotor sizes, the hub on which the blades are attached becomes a more<br />
dominant weight and cost factor for the rotor. At the same time, the dynamic behaviour of the<br />
rotor is becoming dependent on the flexibility in the hub. The loads carried by the pitch<br />
drives that fix the blades to the hub require increasingly more attention. Within the Dutch<br />
innovation system, a project is carried out by GE, LM Windpower and TNO and addresses<br />
the forces and dynamics of the entire rotor assembly.<br />
Finally, imagine the construction of 107m long blades where the root is 5.4m wide. Laying<br />
fibres along the entire span of the blade is challenging and requires automated and robotised<br />
solutions. Handling these blades requires innovative equipment, which everybody could have<br />
observed when the Haliade X turbine was installed at the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 25
Rotor Blades<br />
Edo Kuipers<br />
We4Ce Root Bushing Solution for Rotor Blades<br />
M.A.R.S.<strong>2020</strong><br />
For over 10 years, We4Ce has been providing technology to connect rotor blades<br />
to wind turbines – the We4Ce Root Bushing Solution. The adaptation of more<br />
stringent certification requirements, together with the demand for a reduction in<br />
the main mould occupation time, pushes the launch of the We4Ce M.A.R.S.<strong>2020</strong><br />
project. We4Ce’s vision and strategy is clear in this: a convenient, robust and costeffective<br />
blade root connection technology, following the latest DNVGL-ST-0376<br />
ed. 2<strong>01</strong>5 guidelines.<br />
We4Ce was founded in 2008. Its main design offices are located in<br />
Almelo, the Netherlands. We4Ce also has agencies in China and<br />
Russia and a partner in India. Its core business is rotor blade<br />
design, from aerodynamic and structural design to technology<br />
implementation at our customer’s premises, next to<br />
accomplishment of the certification. Parallel to technology<br />
transfers which enables customers to manufacture the bushing<br />
connection in their own factory, We4Ce also provides prefab blade<br />
root parts as well as subcomponents since 2<strong>01</strong>8.<br />
We4Ce Root Bushing Solution<br />
Since its foundation, We4Ce is focused on the development of<br />
bushing solutions for the root part of rotor blades and becoming<br />
‘the company’ in this field. This solution has been widely used with<br />
great success, especially in the Chinese market. Recently, the<br />
European market also showed increasing interest. At present, over<br />
25,000 turbines worldwide are equipped with our bushing<br />
solution.<br />
Our motto is ‘Simplicity is its strength!’. In the design office of<br />
‘We4Ce-The Rotorblade Specialist’, our team is continuously<br />
working on further improvements and finetuning. The We4Ce Root<br />
Bushing Solution has the objective to fulfil at least the following<br />
criteria: easy to build/assemble, exchangeable with T-bolt-blade<br />
root connection, to be built as a prefab component, and to be<br />
strong enough for its application. Furthermore, only a minimum of<br />
activities may be required once the blades are demoulded.<br />
The bushing of We4Ce follows the mechanical locking principle. It<br />
is a connection that finds its strength during the infusion moulding<br />
process of the blade root. The interfaces between the steel bushing<br />
and the surrounding laminate are of great importance. Since the<br />
assembly is done during the resin infusion process, this means that<br />
the connection is secured by the quality of the laminates. This<br />
leads to a higher strength than when using a bonded insert<br />
connection.<br />
In 2008, the development of the We4Ce Root Bushing Solution<br />
started with the M30, directly followed by the M36. In 2<strong>01</strong>8, a<br />
smaller design, the M20, was introduced for the European market.<br />
Having developed and tested these three different sizes, We4Ce<br />
gained valuable knowledge about the scale effect of bushings and<br />
the Critical to Quality (CTQ) effects to be considered.<br />
The blade root bushing connection consists of an assembly of<br />
different sub-components, where the assembly tolerances are key<br />
to assuring quality. Although slight changes occur, a bushing<br />
connection involves the following sub-components: steel bushings,<br />
fibre material wrapped around the bushings, glass fibre elements<br />
between the bushings, core wedges to slope down the bushing<br />
thickness towards the rotor blade tip, and layers of laminate below<br />
and on top of the bushing assembly to integrate to the full rotor<br />
blade.<br />
Sub-component Supply<br />
Since 2<strong>01</strong>8, We4Ce also produces the sub-components of the<br />
bushing assembly in their own workshop. The aim is to provide the<br />
customers with a robust and cost-effective connection technology<br />
during proto building. For We4Ce, this means to have the QA/QC<br />
and material selection at a consistent level, raising the<br />
characteristic strength. As a result, our customers are able to<br />
concentrate fully on the assembly process in the main mould,<br />
which is their core business.<br />
Prefabricated Root 180 Degrees<br />
To help blade manufacturers shortening their mould occupation<br />
time, We4Ce has started to supply 180 degrees prefabricated root<br />
parts. A few sets of relatively smaller roots have been<br />
manufactured and supplied from the east of the Netherlands to<br />
the southern European market. After a successful start-up and<br />
having finetuned the design for production, We4Ce transferred the<br />
technology to India for mass production.<br />
26 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
The Launch of M.A.R.S.<br />
In the second half of 2<strong>01</strong>9, We4Ce launched the M.A.R.S. project.<br />
The acronym ‘MARS’ identifies the main characteristic features:<br />
being a Modular and Adaptive Root Solution, where Adaptive<br />
refers to the possibility to extend the number of bushings in a row,<br />
or to increase the loading level by shape adjustment.<br />
Together with research institute TNO in Delft, the Critical to<br />
Quality items within a bushing-root are tackled more<br />
fundamentally, on an engineering level by analysis, as well as on a<br />
practical level by testing. Several material interfaces have been<br />
depicted as being critical for the strength of a bushing system.<br />
Next to the default prescribed materials, it was also decided to<br />
include special pultrusion elements into the test programme to<br />
quantify the effect of material tolerances on the strength by means<br />
of testing.<br />
Offering root segments (modular parts) to our customers as a<br />
hardware product, is the next ambitious goal of We4Ce. For this<br />
purpose, a close cooperation with a Chinese partner will be<br />
explored. The goal of the cooperation is an efficiency improvement<br />
for our customers in terms of main mould occupation time and a<br />
consistent and reliable quality level, taking an attractive cost-level<br />
in mind.<br />
u Edo Kuipers<br />
With more than 22 year of experience in blade design, Edo<br />
Kuipers is one of the founders and co-owners of We4Ce. His<br />
main responsibility is running the engineering department<br />
from the aerodynamic rotor blade design, structural design,<br />
up to accomplishing the certification documentation. His<br />
special interest is to have the in-house developed bushing<br />
connection being applied in as many possible rotor blades<br />
as connection technology between the rotor blade and the<br />
turbine. Edo studied Aeronautical Engineering in the<br />
Netherlands and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree.<br />
Edo Kuipers, We4Ce - the Rotorblade Specialist<br />
www.we4ce.eu, e.kuipers@we4ce.eu<br />
To impeccably execute the M.A.R.S. project, We4Ce works closely<br />
together with several European certification bodies in a step by<br />
step approach.<br />
The M.A.R.S. project is expected to be accomplished by the end<br />
of <strong>2020</strong>, however first results and findings will be applied earlier,<br />
i.e. by the mid of <strong>2020</strong>.<br />
For more information, please contact us at:<br />
info@we4ce.eu<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 27
Rotor blades<br />
Mischa Brendel<br />
Boltlife’s blade to hub flange connection methodology<br />
Safe upscaling of<br />
wind turbines<br />
Wind turbine generators get bigger and bigger each year. As a result, the dynamic<br />
forces on a rotor blade during its operation become immense. These tremendous<br />
forces are transferred through the blade-to-hub connection, which makes it<br />
imperative that this connection doesn’t have any weak points. This poses<br />
challenges for the designers of wind turbines. But those that can overcome these<br />
design challenges are looking at lower costs of quality and even better revenues.<br />
Boltlife specialises in creating high quality bolted flange<br />
connections in wind turbines, among them blade to hub<br />
connections. In 1996, a blade length of 20 meters was<br />
considered as state of the art; in 2003, 45 meters had<br />
become a standard and today we are working with blades of 107<br />
meters long. In those days the T-bolt connection (IKEA<br />
connection) was the standard method to connect the rotor blade<br />
to the hub of the turbine. The last 15 to 20 years however, a root<br />
bushing connection is the most<br />
commonly chosen method for<br />
connecting the rotor blades.<br />
the bolt preloading procedure. “Current bolt preloading<br />
procedures, like torque-angle or tensioning, have their flaws<br />
due to poorly manageable parameters like friction, lubrication<br />
issues and misalignment,” Joost Prieshof, CEO of Boltlife says.<br />
“The reason is that only a small and unquantified portion of the<br />
applied torque will be converted into actual preload. This leads to<br />
a considerable scattered load throughout the bolted flange<br />
connection.”<br />
One important advantage of a<br />
bushing solution over the T-bolt<br />
connection is the ability to apply<br />
more bolts on the same pitch<br />
circle diameter; about 30 % more<br />
bolts can be placed, which offers<br />
the opportunity to use longer<br />
rotor blades. An increase in size<br />
means an increase in power<br />
capacity and a reduction in<br />
maintenance costs. But it also<br />
means that we are reaching the<br />
limits of what our current<br />
standards can handle when it<br />
comes to design parameters.<br />
High-quality flange<br />
connection<br />
An important aspect for the<br />
quality of the flange connection is<br />
28 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Boltlife has developed a<br />
flange bolting methodology<br />
utilizing ultrasonic load<br />
measurement and custom<br />
sequencing methods, that<br />
create high-quality flange<br />
connections, where all<br />
loads are comfortably over<br />
the minimum required<br />
load, with very little scatter<br />
between the individual<br />
joints. The method used<br />
focusses on load-driventorque,<br />
as opposed to the<br />
conventional torque-drivenload.<br />
Furthermore, each<br />
Measuring WTG flang<br />
bolt in a flange will be<br />
measured and evaluated<br />
during the torqueing or tensioning load application. As a result, a<br />
fully traceable and repeatable load assessment is available at all<br />
times. Boltlife expects the method to be certified by DNV-GL very<br />
soon. The company is also developing an ultrasonic permanent<br />
remote measurement system.<br />
Arnold Timmer, CEO of rotor blade specialist We4Ce, thinks that<br />
Boltlife is on the right track. “The Boltlife technology produces<br />
better connections, which potentially would allow us to design<br />
larger blades, and that enables a higher capacity wind turbine.”<br />
We4Ce is a technology provider; it develops wind turbine rotor<br />
blades but does not build them. The company has over twenty<br />
years of experience, ranging from 50 kW to 14 MW wind turbines.<br />
Timmer: “A rotor blade must be able to absorb the forces from<br />
wind gusts. But at the same time, it needs a certain level of rigidity.<br />
” This means that a lot of force is exerted on the bolts and fringes,<br />
which connect the rotor blades to the turbines. That makes it<br />
imperative to tighten the bolts securely. It is of great importance to<br />
accurately control the bolt preloading procedure. If the design<br />
preload force is not valid on the actual turbine, this will result in<br />
bolt failures and unsafe situations. Variations (or scatter) on the<br />
prescribed preload force will always occur and for this reason, the<br />
We4Ce designers take the expected scatter into account in their<br />
designs. Controlling the preloading procedure in such a manner<br />
that the expected scatter is lowered, will result in more optimised<br />
blade root designs.<br />
Reduction in maintenance costs<br />
Prieshof: “Current bolt preloading procedures have inaccuracies<br />
that can easily get to 30 to 40 % when it comes to torque to load.”<br />
These are inaccuracies in which We4Ce has to make its<br />
calculations.” Boltlife closes the flange comfortably above the<br />
“We are reaching the<br />
limits of what our current<br />
standards can handle”<br />
Blade flang bushing<br />
minimal required load. Together with the lower scatter, this creates<br />
a flange connection that is almost immune to fatigue damage.<br />
Boltlife’s technology also reduces maintenance costs, Prieshof<br />
explains: “We take measurements with a probe, which can be done<br />
very quickly. Within ten seconds I have a re-measurement from<br />
within the blade connection and I can read out the load<br />
immediately.”<br />
Currently, Boltlife is in the process of certifying its methodology<br />
with DNV-GL. “This certification will guarantee that bolted<br />
flanges meet the highest traceable quality standards and they can<br />
expect considerable improvements in their Maintenance Plan.”<br />
Whether certification alone is enough, remains to be seen; the<br />
wind turbine market is a conservative one. Timmer: “I can imagine<br />
that the market is careful to release another approach. Companies<br />
are used to certain procedures and a new methodology could give<br />
some challenges, which need time to settle in.”<br />
But when it does, the biggest advantage is clear: safe upscaling of<br />
wind turbines, which means more capacity and a big opex<br />
reduction.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 29
Rotor Blades<br />
Sabine Lankhorst<br />
Interview with Redak<br />
Proper blade<br />
maintenance for<br />
optimal turbine<br />
performance<br />
Blades have been the so-called ‘underdog’ in wind energy for a long time. Its use<br />
was practical but not seen by definition as a vital element. Only later did the<br />
industry became aware of its importance in the energy production of a wind<br />
turbine. Dutch blade inspection and repair specialist Redak has witnessed this<br />
process from the start.<br />
Kader Benali is the owner of Redak, based in Noord-<br />
Scharwoude. His professional experience in wind<br />
energy dates back almost 30 years. After graduating<br />
from high school he worked on several jobs before<br />
joining Nedwind, a Dutch manufacturer of wind turbines. “At that<br />
time I didn’t know that much about wind turbines and actually<br />
thought they were built from wood, but as I have a passion for<br />
technique I decided to give it a try.” This decision would dictate<br />
his future career path.<br />
Nedwind was at that time one of the main wind turbine<br />
manufacturers in the world with an international customer base.<br />
At some point the company was split. Nedwind continued with<br />
the mechanical activities while the rotor blade manufacturing<br />
activities were placed under a new entity, Rotorline. This enabled<br />
Rotorline to also sell blades to other turbine manufacturers. Benali<br />
joined Rotorline. It didn’t take long before the management of<br />
Rotorline noticed his quality and asked him to specialise in<br />
maintenance and repair of blades. For Rotorline he worked in the<br />
Netherlands, the USA and Germany.<br />
When Rotorline was sold in 1999 to LM Windpower, Benali<br />
joined this company. He worked for LM for two years before<br />
deciding to found his own company, Redak, in 2000, offering<br />
blade service and inspections.<br />
International reach<br />
Even though a small company at first, he continued to work on<br />
international projects. In fact, his first assignment was in Curacao.<br />
Having Vestas as a regular client certainly helped but he was also<br />
asked by other companies to perform blade inspection work on<br />
projects all over the world. Countries where Redak worked include<br />
South Africa, Australia, Jamaica, Thailand, Curacao, Chile,<br />
Uruguay and Costa Rica. Benali: “Half of the time during my<br />
career I spent abroad.”<br />
In the Netherlands he is involved in both onshore and offshore<br />
wind. Offshore, his company has performed inspection and repair<br />
activities on the Noordzeewind project, also known as Egmond<br />
aan Zee. Onshore, he is working for Vattenfall at their Haringvliet<br />
wind farm where 6 Nordex 117 turbines are currently being<br />
installed. Last year he signed a contract with Vattenfall for<br />
maintenance work on 36 wind turbines at the Prinses Alexia wind<br />
farm. His company is also performing inspections in the Deil wind<br />
farm which is currently being built in the province of Gelderland.<br />
Underestimated<br />
Regular wind turbine blade inspections are nowadays part of the<br />
operation and maintenance budget for a wind farm. This was not<br />
always the case, explains Benali. For a long time, blades were not<br />
seen as important. The focus was more on the mechanical part of<br />
30 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Blade damage<br />
Benali performing blade repair<br />
‘When the leading edge starts to wear<br />
it affects the aerodynamics, resulting<br />
in a decrease in performance’<br />
u Blade inspector requirements<br />
Full GWO<br />
VCA<br />
Blade B Repair and Inspection Course<br />
English in spoken and written<br />
Medical G41 test (for offshore)<br />
VOP<br />
Irata<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 31
the turbine. The industry was not aware yet that the quality of the<br />
blades also has an influence on the production efficiency of the<br />
wind turbine. He elaborates: “When the leading edge starts to<br />
wear it affects the aerodynamics, resulting in a decrease in<br />
performance.”<br />
Therefore in the early days, his job consisted mainly in repairing<br />
damaged blades and in the inspection of blades before<br />
transportation and before being installed on site. Blades often get<br />
damaged during transport. Not so much in the Netherlands, he<br />
stresses. Here the transportation companies are more experienced<br />
and transportation is bound to certain rules and regulations. In<br />
countries that are new to wind energy this can be different. He<br />
provides the example of South Africa where the government<br />
dictates that local input is used. “Transportation companies were<br />
not used to moving blades and often a lamp post or traffic light<br />
was hit when making a turn”, he says. It is therefore important to<br />
check the blades during transportation, for example when arriving<br />
in port.<br />
Blades, and the leading edge in particular, are prone to several<br />
elements that can cause wear and tear like salt, lightning and the<br />
wind itself, he continues, “In several cases I was called out for an<br />
inspection overseas to find out that the blades were damaged<br />
beyond repair. This could have been prevented with regular<br />
maintenance.” He takes pride in his first project in Palm Springs,<br />
USA. Here he performed planned maintenance on twenty turbines<br />
over a period of 26 years. “In general, blade manufacturers provide<br />
a 20-year warranty but they can last longer when taken care for<br />
properly. In Palm Springs the turbines are now being replaced by<br />
more modern turbines, however, the blades were still in good<br />
shape”, he says.<br />
It was only later on that the industry started to realise how the<br />
blade quality affects the turbine performance and regular<br />
maintenance was introduced. Benali: “Insurance companies also<br />
started to require maintenance to take place, in general once every<br />
two years.”<br />
Inspection & Repair<br />
“On land, first we make a preliminary observation of the state of<br />
the blades from the ground, using a camera or sometimes drones.<br />
Nowadays the cameras are of enough quality to do so. Based on<br />
the results we decide whether repair is needed”, Benali explains.<br />
Repair work can be performed in 99% of the cases with the blade<br />
still connected. This is done by using rope access, a sky climber or<br />
boom truck. “It is only occasionally that a blade is damaged to<br />
such an extent that we need the blade to be dismantled and lifted<br />
down to perform the repair work on the ground. In those cases the<br />
damage is most of the time to the interior laminating. “To repair<br />
this we would need to do new laminating. The epoxy that is used<br />
needs to dry. This is done by means of a type of heat blanket<br />
which exposes the epoxy laminate to a temperature of 60 degrees<br />
Celsius during two hours”, he elaborates.<br />
There are some limitations to doing repair work on site. When<br />
using epoxy it is important that the air humidity is below a certain<br />
level, less than 70 to 80%, says Benali. Ideally the temperature<br />
Roos and Cerri Ann of Redak during offshore inspections<br />
should be above 15 degrees Celsius. New, modern blades now also<br />
require a vacuum system when performing repair work, he adds.<br />
Offshore is a different story, both the inspection and repair are<br />
being performed using rope access. There are exceptions he says.<br />
“Once I was asked to perform repair work offshore on a blade that<br />
was hit by lightning. In this case the damage was too big to repair<br />
using rope access. We had to rent a platform which could be<br />
installed on the transition piece and lifted up by cables.”<br />
When asked whether he thinks drones will fully take over<br />
inspections of blades offshore in the future he is doubtful.<br />
“Drones, currently being used, can only picture the external<br />
surface, they cannot provide a view on the internal layering of the<br />
blade so you won’t be able to see when delamination is taking<br />
place. The internal layering are the carriers of the blade. Do you<br />
really want to risk making decisions based purely on the results<br />
from drone images?”, he wonders.<br />
Manpower<br />
Since the start of the company in 2000 his company witnessed a<br />
strong growth. He started to scale up a few years ago when he<br />
realised he was growing too quickly to manage every single detail<br />
himself. “I realised I had to transfer my knowledge and let others<br />
do some management tasks. I also started to use a software system<br />
for reporting and digitalising.”<br />
Currently he has a fixed team of four people and around forty<br />
persons working for him on-call. He can look back on a very busy<br />
year in 2<strong>01</strong>9, even to the point that he had to say no to a new<br />
project. This has mainly to do with limited manpower. “It is very<br />
hard to build an experienced, qualitative team”, he explains. “It<br />
really took me a lot of time and effort to get the team I have now.<br />
There are simply not enough experts in the Netherlands so I had<br />
to attract people from other countries like Latvia and the UK.<br />
With this team I know that I can deliver quality.”<br />
His team also includes two women. Not enough to his liking.<br />
“These women are amazing, they are not afraid to go out there<br />
offshore and take on the activities that men have always done. In<br />
fact, they are actually more meticulous than men!”, he admits.<br />
One of his wishes is to get more Dutch professionals interested but<br />
the fact that youngsters seem to prefer digital work rather than<br />
using their hands worries him.<br />
32 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
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Rotor blades<br />
Iref Joeman<br />
Alternatives on<br />
afterlife use of<br />
amortized<br />
rotor blades<br />
Despite the many advantages of wind energy, there are also several<br />
challenges this fast expanding industry is facing. One of these is the<br />
recycling of the turbines at the end of their life cycle. The rotor<br />
blades in particular are difficult to recycle. Much more research<br />
will need to be conducted on this topic.<br />
Superuse Studios considers<br />
reclaimend rotor blades as an excellent<br />
building material for urban furniture.<br />
©Superuse Studios<br />
u Iref Joeman<br />
Iref Joeman completed his Bachelor in Mechanical<br />
Engineering on the topic Recycling PET-bottles in Suriname.<br />
He came to the Netherlands in the summer of 2<strong>01</strong>6 in<br />
pursuit of his Master degree. Initially at the Technical<br />
University of Delft, but later on at the University of Twente.<br />
In September 2<strong>01</strong>9 he successfully obtained his Master degree<br />
in Environmental and Energy Management. His thesis<br />
treated on the recycling of wind turbine rotor blades.<br />
34 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Wind energy, together with solar energy, are the main<br />
drivers for reducing CO2 emissions globally. Their<br />
share in the energy production will rapidly grow as<br />
many countries have set ambitious targets to reach<br />
a reduction in emissions or even a carbon neutral energy industry.<br />
But what happens when these turbines reach the end of their life<br />
cycle? Currently in the Netherlands, many of the first generation<br />
wind turbines are being dismantled, making place for the new<br />
much more powerful, improved generation turbines. This poses a<br />
problem that is the same for the solar industry; namely the<br />
recyclability.<br />
Iref Joeman, while following a master in Environmental and<br />
Energy Management at the University of Twente, one day came<br />
across an article that discussed the challenges of recycling wind<br />
roto blades after their lifecycle. At that time he was not aware of<br />
this challenge and it aroused his curiosity. When it came to<br />
choosing a topic for his thesis, he did not have to think twice. His<br />
supervisor, who instantly approved his choice, got him in contact<br />
with a consultancy who offered him an internship. Over a period<br />
of five months he learned a lot from his colleagues and his<br />
company supervisor. Last year he successfully completed his<br />
master.<br />
Main challenges<br />
Of the wind turbine components, the rotor blades are the most<br />
challenging to recycle as they are non-biodegradable. Normally,<br />
a blade has a life expectancy of approximately 25 years when it is<br />
kept in good conditions through adequate maintenance. This life<br />
expectancy of 25 years may seem like a long period, but with the<br />
growing size and number of rotor blades and wind turbines<br />
globally will lead to disposal challenges in the future.<br />
In his research, Joeman discussed four methods for the afterlife<br />
treatment of rotor blades: pyrolysis, refurbishment, pavement<br />
application, and landfilling.<br />
His research consisted of data acquisition from comparable<br />
research reports, articles and publications, complimented with<br />
data from interviews he conducted with several parties that are<br />
related to the topic of rotor blades. The interviewed parties varied<br />
from researchers, companies involved in dismantling, refurbishing<br />
and reselling end of life rotot blades, and parties active in<br />
landfilling and or recycling parts of wind turbines.<br />
Research results<br />
With their robust size and weight and their non-biodegradable<br />
characteristics, it will become more of a problem to dispose of the<br />
rotor blades in landfills. Especially since many EU nations are<br />
phasing out landfills.<br />
One of the conclusions Joeman drew was that, although<br />
challenging, recycling of rotor blades can be improved and<br />
realised. The current technical state of the art of the afterlife<br />
application of rotor blades is still in its development stage but<br />
progress is already being made. Though limited, a few of the fore<br />
mentioned applications can be used currently.<br />
One of these applications is pyrolysis in which the blade is<br />
decomposed in separate materials. Another application is<br />
shredding the rotor blades into granulates which can be used as a<br />
resource for pavements and other building applications or to<br />
manufacture furniture, skateboards, decorative lamps, amongst<br />
other things. This is done, for example, by Demacq in the<br />
Netherlands and is currently the most viable option. Yet another<br />
option is refurbishing end of life rotor blades in good conditions<br />
and reselling them. This is currently done in the Netherlands,<br />
around 20% of the amortized rotor blades are refurbished and<br />
resold to countries like Italy, Greece, Asia, eastern Europe and<br />
North Africa.<br />
These options, however, pose their own challenges as the<br />
incineration and transportation produces quite a lot of CO2<br />
emissions.<br />
Replacing the thermoset epoxy material with the thermoplastic<br />
recyclable Elium is another viable option. Elium has been applied<br />
to and successfully tested on rotor blades with lengths of 8 m and<br />
25 m recently. There is no certainty on the performance and<br />
application of rotor blades larger than 25 m regarding the use of<br />
Elium. Regardless of the infancy of this application, the<br />
application shows to have prominence in the near future.<br />
The design and choice of material for the rotor blade is very<br />
crucial considering the rising trend of wind turbines being<br />
installed in the coming years. Rotor blades manufactured from<br />
recyclable material like thermoplastics and polyester can be a<br />
solution, but the mechanical and aerodynamic properties should<br />
not be compromised only because of their recyclability.<br />
Next steps<br />
The reseach performed by Joeman and the outcome of his report<br />
is the first step of many to come as this topic is still in its early<br />
stage. Fortunately, technological research and development is still<br />
in progress. Time and public awareness may be an issue and has to<br />
be dealt with carefully.<br />
Recommendation<br />
In order to improve the whole recycling process, the following<br />
should be further researched: the dismantling, transportation, and<br />
location of the refurbishing or recycling facility need to be<br />
improved to reduce transportation costs, CO2 emissions and the<br />
time delay in getting all the necessary permits. This can be done<br />
by either better planning and or technical innovation. Technical<br />
innovation can be designing and choosing better recyclable<br />
materials for the rotor blades, facilitating/improving the reverse<br />
engineering process.<br />
There should also be more research into further development of<br />
available recycling methods. This can be achieved by making more<br />
funds available for NGO’s, researchers and universities.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 35
Martijn Koelers<br />
Rotor blades<br />
Cross-sectoral collaboration<br />
for innovation & automation<br />
in rotor blades<br />
Wind is a powerful renewable energy choice to<br />
sustain the planet we all know and enjoy.<br />
Competition in the wind industry has never been<br />
fiercer. Reliable rotor blades are essential to<br />
bringing down the costs of wind energy.<br />
Technology plays a central role<br />
in each wind turbine blade<br />
(WTB), taking factors such as<br />
materials, aerodynamics, blade<br />
profile, and structure into consideration.<br />
These factors define the performance and<br />
reliability of the blade and require a high<br />
degree of precision. Excellent craftmanship,<br />
uniform processes, and flexible and<br />
responsive manufacturing set-up are<br />
needed to produce high-quality blades.<br />
Innovation & automation<br />
To get ahead in the competitive wind<br />
industry, innovations are needed. Higher<br />
efficiency in current processes and<br />
introducing automation are key to ensure<br />
decreasing LCOE. But it is not only<br />
automation that will help. Along with these<br />
developments, material research is<br />
necessary as well as design, assembly and<br />
logistic innovations.<br />
Key to these different topics is the need to<br />
collaborate with and learn from other<br />
industries. The composites industry will be<br />
one of the more prominent partners, they<br />
have experience in automation of<br />
production lines, albeit with smaller parts,<br />
but this kind of innovation involves more<br />
than simply implementing a new<br />
technique.<br />
Simultaneously, innovation in one step of<br />
the value chain opens the door to further<br />
innovation in a linked process. Automation<br />
may lead to different ways of assembling<br />
the blade, which can lead to the use of<br />
different materials, and this then opens<br />
new ways of designing the blade or vice<br />
versa.<br />
That said, all of this must not interfere with<br />
current processes. There can be no<br />
disruptive innovations in a live production<br />
line.<br />
Official support<br />
These challenges can’t be solved by the<br />
separate industries, rather external and<br />
more formal nudging into the right<br />
direction is needed. Sector clusters and<br />
governments can pave the path into crosssectoral<br />
collaboration. Help is needed to<br />
facilitate these collaborations, the<br />
industries have their role, but governments<br />
could speed up the process by supporting<br />
or demanding cross-sectoral initiatives.<br />
An important factor in this kind of support<br />
is the objective or the end result. Serious<br />
investments are needed for the<br />
implementation of new technologies on an<br />
operational scale and come with big risks.<br />
It would be highly beneficial for crosssectoral<br />
collaborations if initiatives in this<br />
area would get official support beyond any<br />
technology readiness level and into a<br />
mature phase of manufacturing readiness.<br />
CompositesNL.nl is the Dutch Composites<br />
Association<br />
36 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
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bubbles for piling<br />
Marine Performance Systems (MPS) develops a system with air<br />
bubbles that absorb and reduce noise. On 9 December 2<strong>01</strong>9, the<br />
company won with its concept the Offshore Wind Innovation<br />
Challenge, organised by Innovatielink and Offshore Wind Innovators.<br />
Driving wind turbine<br />
monopiles in the seafbed<br />
results in a large amount of<br />
noise underwater and in the<br />
seabed. The hammering by the pile driver<br />
can produce 170 to 180 dB of sound; that<br />
is comparable with the sound produced by<br />
a firing cannon. Should you swim nearby<br />
in the sea during the pile driving, you<br />
would turn instantly deaf. Moreover, in<br />
the future monopile diameters will<br />
increase, and therefore there is a growing<br />
demand for technological solutions that<br />
reduce the underwater noise. After all,<br />
authorities around the North Sea and<br />
elsewhere enforce strict limits in order to<br />
minimise damage to nature, fish and sea<br />
mammals.<br />
For this purpose, Marine Performance<br />
Systems (MPS) develops a system with air<br />
bubbles that absorb and reduce noise.<br />
When the company won with its concept<br />
the Offshore Wind Innovation Challenge,<br />
Van Oord and other large offshore<br />
contractors responded immediately and<br />
already in January, a month later, meetings<br />
were planned to discuss cooperation and<br />
carry out experiments in Wageningen at<br />
the Marin (Maritime Research Institute<br />
Netherlands).<br />
There were three other finalists in the<br />
Challenge. Two of them were focussed on<br />
the design of new oyster cages that must<br />
enable the growth of oysters on the seabed<br />
near offshore wind farms in the North Sea.<br />
The fourth contestant was a company that<br />
uses sound to measure friction, tension<br />
and wear in jointed bolts and thus<br />
increases the efficiency of the maintenance<br />
management of wind turbines. (see Boxes)<br />
“We know a lot about bubbles”, says Pieter<br />
Kapteijn, Chief Technology Officer at<br />
MPS, in his presentation in the Oude<br />
Bibliotheek in Delft. He mentioned an<br />
additional reason for his evident selfconfidence;<br />
he found himself back on<br />
familiar territory because once in this<br />
building he was cramming to complete his<br />
study as civil engineer.<br />
His company, with facilities in Rotterdam<br />
and Copenhagen, started in 2<strong>01</strong>4 with the<br />
development of Air Lubrication, an air<br />
bubble drag reduction system for vessels.<br />
By emitting air bubbles along a vessel’s<br />
hull, the drag of a vessel can be reduced<br />
with 30 to 40 percent. In that case it is of<br />
paramount importance that the air bubbles<br />
are emitted in the boundary layer between<br />
hull and water, that the bubble size is kept<br />
constant and that the bubbles can have<br />
their effect along the whole length of the<br />
vessel.<br />
Kapteijn’s colleagues and co-founders at<br />
MPS, Frode Lundsteen Hansen and Fulko<br />
Roos, made contact with Van Oord, and<br />
that company encouraged them to work<br />
out the idea of a noise barrier with air<br />
bubbles.<br />
“Sound forces an air bubble to vibrate and<br />
that resonance supplies energy or heat to<br />
the bubble”, explains Kapteijn. “At the<br />
same time, that bubble spreads the sound<br />
pulses around to other bubbles, that will in<br />
turn absorb the vibration. It reflects in all<br />
directions. Thus, it is about absorbing –<br />
from vibration to heat – and scattering.<br />
That results in noise reduction.”<br />
During the piling of the tubular monopile<br />
in the seabed the hammering of the pile<br />
driver causes sound waves that propagate<br />
from up to down and back up through the<br />
pipe. A part of the noise is radiated to the<br />
surrounding water, and another part<br />
causes a low frequency vibration in the<br />
seabed, that will also be reflected upwards<br />
to the water surface.<br />
“For the noisiest part of the sound<br />
spectrum, between 30 and 3000 hertz, we<br />
introduce air bubbles with a specific size, 7<br />
to 0,3 millimetre diameter. It is essential<br />
that we continuously tune the diameter of<br />
the bubbles to the changing frequencies,<br />
because when the monopile is driven<br />
deeper into the seabed, the sound<br />
frequencies change”, explains Kapteijn.<br />
“Noise mitigation is all about control.”<br />
38 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Monopile installation by Van Oord at Gemini OWF, © Gemini Windpark<br />
“We are now working on an active system<br />
in which continuously performed<br />
measurements and feedback result in the<br />
oscillators producing air bubbles with the<br />
optimal diameter. For instance, when the<br />
strongest noise is around 400 Hz, the<br />
oscillator will create bubbles with a<br />
diameter of 1 to 2 millimetres.”<br />
“We know how it works in theory, we are<br />
all in agreement about that. Now we have<br />
reached the engineering phase in which we<br />
continue the development with other<br />
partners, such as Van Oord, towards a<br />
practical, working system. We are confident<br />
that this approach will offer a solution and<br />
mitigate the underwater sound<br />
explosions”, according to Kapteijn.<br />
u Oyster reefs<br />
Ecological values were the focus for two other contestants in the Innovation Challenge.<br />
The British ARC Marine (not to be confused with the Dutch company of the same name,<br />
producer of teak shipping and yachting equipment) makes concrete reef cubes, that can<br />
be combined modularly to make every desired shape of oyster reef.<br />
The two representatives of the Brixham, South East England based company, were<br />
wearing dark grey T-shirts advertising their goal: ‘accelerating reef creation’. Director Tom<br />
Birbeck showed the audience a map dated 1890 that depicted north of the Wadden Sea<br />
an area of 20,000 km2 that was covered by oyster beds. Those have disappeared by<br />
‘destructive fishery’; bottom trawling with nets that are weighted with chains can wreak<br />
havoc on the seabed.<br />
The hollow reef cubes, with sizes of 1, 0.5 or 0.25 m3, do not only offer an inviting habitat<br />
for oysters and other marine life, but can also offer protection to submarine cables and<br />
pipelines, Birback demonstrated. And the cubes can be used for coastal protection as well.<br />
Annemiek Hermans of engineering and consultancy firm Witteveen+Bos demonstrated a<br />
different design to enable oysters to grow below wind farms, the O-float. This is a new type<br />
of oyster cage as well, but it does not rest on the seabed, as it floats thanks to a balloon<br />
above it and an anchor beneath it. That prevents the oyster bed getting covered by sand.<br />
u Sound measures stress<br />
Tribosonics, a company in Sheffield, UK, reached the final of the Innovation Challenge with<br />
a technology that uses sound to determine the tension in already mounted bolts.<br />
Pieter Kapteijn (L) and Frode Lundsteen<br />
Hansen (right), resp. CTO and CEO of Marine<br />
Performance Systems<br />
A wind turbine contains thousands of bolted joints that are fastened with a precise force<br />
and lubrication. Determining the condition of the connections and the possible wear after<br />
an installation has been in operation for a while, is a very labour-intensive operation,<br />
especially in the case of offshore turbines. Christina King of Tribosonics (“We are very<br />
good at measurement systems”) showed how the tension in a bolt can be measured<br />
without turning the bolt or the nut. Tribosonics (tribology is the science of friction) sends a<br />
sound pulse through a bolt, along the entire length. The echo of the ultrasonic pulse forms<br />
an indication of the (surplus of) tension. The technology is also capable of evaluating the<br />
bearings in the gearbox of a turbine.<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 39
General news<br />
MOOI innovation scheme<br />
In February, a new <strong>2020</strong> subsidy<br />
scheme MOOI (stands for Missiondriven<br />
Research, Development and<br />
Innovation) was officially announced<br />
in the Goverment Gazette. The new<br />
scheme, with a budget of 65 million<br />
Euro, is offered by the Topsector<br />
Energie and TKI Wind op Zee<br />
organisations, together with RVO.nl<br />
(Netherlands Enterprise Agency).<br />
The MOOI subsidy scheme supports<br />
integral solutions that contribute to<br />
the energy transition. It is based on<br />
the long-term mission-driven<br />
innovation programmes (MMIP’s) by<br />
the Topsector Energie and aims to<br />
speed up the process for innovations<br />
to market entry.<br />
The scheme is intended for projects in<br />
the area of offshore wind (10.1 million<br />
Euro), onshore renewable energy<br />
(10.9 million Euro), built environment<br />
(27 million Euro), and industry (17<br />
million Euro). The submission period<br />
is divided in two phases, a preliminary<br />
round and the final submission. All<br />
projects must first be submitted before<br />
20 April <strong>2020</strong>, 5 PM. The submitted<br />
applications are then evaluated by an<br />
advise committee. This has been<br />
introduced to provide applicants the<br />
opportunity to improve their<br />
applications. The deadline for the final<br />
submission is 8 September <strong>2020</strong>, 5<br />
PM. The projects need to meet certain<br />
criteria. More info can be found at<br />
rvo.nl/mooi.<br />
SDE++<br />
The tender round for the first SDE++<br />
subsidy scheme will open on 29 September<br />
and close on 22 October <strong>2020</strong>. There is 5<br />
billion Euro available in this round.<br />
SDE++ is the succesor of the SDE+ scheme.<br />
It builds further on some of the features<br />
from the SDE+ but is expanding the<br />
categories of technologies that can apply for<br />
subsidies. A new principle in the SDE++ is<br />
the ranking based on expected subsidy per<br />
tonne of avoided CO2 emissions.<br />
The Minister of Economic Affairs and<br />
Climate Policy, Wiebes, aims to publish the<br />
SDE amendment decision in April this year.<br />
The publication of all underlying regulations<br />
concerning the opening of the SDE++ is<br />
expected this Spring. For the decision and<br />
regulations an approval from the European<br />
Commission is also required.<br />
KenzFigee launches<br />
new rope actuated<br />
knuckle boom subsea<br />
crane<br />
Crane and lifting specialist KenzFigee<br />
launched their new knuckle boom subsea<br />
crane. This new generation rope actuated<br />
crane builds on proven technology but with<br />
improved features for optimized daily<br />
operations, safety and operability, without<br />
compromising to lifting capacity from<br />
approximately 400 tonnes up to 2,000<br />
tonnes.<br />
For the new design, KenzFigee<br />
incorporated their clients’ requirements.<br />
These were mostly related to improvement<br />
of operational safety and workability.<br />
Plan for further cost<br />
reduction in wind and<br />
solar on land<br />
The Dutch associations NVDE and<br />
Energie-Nederland have presented an<br />
action plan to further reduce the cost of<br />
electricity generated by wind and solar<br />
farms in the Netherlands. The associations<br />
worked together with companies from the<br />
wind sector, united in NWEA, the Dutch<br />
wind energy association, and the solar<br />
industry, united in Holland Solar.<br />
4 areas of improvement<br />
Several agreements have been made in the<br />
Climate Agreement to reduce the cost of<br />
electricity from solar and wind.<br />
The plan focuses at measures that can be<br />
taken or already taken by the industry itself<br />
to lower the cost of electricity. The wind<br />
and solar sector have identified 4 areas of<br />
improvements, to be achieved by<br />
cooperation; more efficient management<br />
through standardisation, improvement in<br />
© KenzFigee<br />
The new knuckle boom subsea crane<br />
includes improvements including a high<br />
safe working load-up of up to 2,000<br />
tonnes, a decreased hook weight and<br />
pendulum length, full deck coverage<br />
including reach at minimum radius and a<br />
lifting height and reach for tall objects.<br />
the eligibility of the projects, optimalisation<br />
of the production process by improved<br />
predictability and monotoring, and an<br />
optimalisation in grid connection.<br />
When successful, these measures could<br />
achieve a cost reduction of several Euros<br />
per MWh. Additional reductions can be<br />
achieved by technological developments<br />
and other agreements stated in the Climate<br />
Agreement. These measures combined<br />
should make it possible to develop wind<br />
and solar on land without the aid of<br />
subsidies by 2025.<br />
40 | <strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong>
Haliade-X: World<br />
record holder on<br />
Maasvlakte II<br />
Recently, the world’s most powerful wind<br />
turbine, the Haliade-X of GE Renewable<br />
Energy, started operating on the most<br />
western point of Maasvlakte II. The blades,<br />
with a length of 107 metres, are good for a<br />
capacity of 12 MW and an estimated gross<br />
annual energy production of 67 GWh,<br />
enough energy to power 16,000 European<br />
households. During a festive inauguration<br />
on 17 December 2<strong>01</strong>9, the wind turbine<br />
was deployed.<br />
The owner of this world record holder is<br />
Future Wind, a consortium consisting of<br />
General Electric Renewable Energy,<br />
Pondera Consult, and Sif Netherlands.<br />
The Haliade-X is built on the site of Sif, a<br />
producer of turbine foundations, bordering<br />
FutureLand, the information centre of<br />
Maasvlakte II. In the coming years, the<br />
owners and TNO will perform extensive<br />
testing on the 12 MW mega turbine for<br />
certification. To give an idea of the size: the<br />
8 M turbines of Borssele I and II have a<br />
rotor diameter of 164 metres, whereas the<br />
rotor of the 12 MW turbine of GE has a<br />
diameter of 220 metres.<br />
The Haliade-X could as easily have been<br />
built in Denmark or France, but thanks to<br />
a smooth issuing of permits and a<br />
logistically favourable location, Maasvlakte<br />
II was chosen. The location is just onshore,<br />
but enjoys a steady wind blowing in from<br />
the sea, and of course the turbine is<br />
intended for offshore wind farms. GE<br />
Managing Director Ward Gommeren<br />
expects that in 2022, Ørsted will install ten<br />
to fifteen 12 MW Haliade-X’s at the East<br />
Coast of the United States, the Skip Jack<br />
Project near Rhode Island. “Though for<br />
the tender procedure for the Hollandse<br />
Kust (Noord) Wind Farm Zone, the<br />
Haliade-X offer also an opportunity”,<br />
Gommeren says. The tender submission<br />
will be in April <strong>2020</strong>, the construction<br />
phase is planned for 2023-2024.<br />
LM Wind Power produces the hybrid<br />
carbon blades that exceed the length of a<br />
football field. Their flexibility and relatively<br />
low weight contribute to the power of 12<br />
MW, allowing the Haliade-X to exceed a<br />
limit that a few years ago wind turbine<br />
constructors deemed unsurmountable.<br />
The blade length also leads to higher<br />
energy production at low wind speeds.<br />
They are made in the LM Wind Power<br />
production facility at Cherbourg, France.<br />
The nacelle is produced in the GE factory<br />
General news<br />
in Saint Nazaire (France). Contractor GRI<br />
in Seville, Spain builds the tower with a<br />
height of 135 metres. Two brand new 1350<br />
tonnes Liebherr cranes (‘the biggest you<br />
can find’) were needed to build the<br />
Haliade-X. The tips of the blades reach a<br />
height of 244,4 metres; that is in<br />
accordance with regulations, higher is not<br />
allowed. Next to the Haliade-X will arise a<br />
measuring tower built by Extentruder in<br />
France. That tower will supply all desired<br />
information on wind, temperature and<br />
humidity.<br />
TNO will play a major role in the tests that<br />
are planned during the next years. Sensors,<br />
strain gauges and accelerometers in and on<br />
the turbine components, already installed<br />
during the construction phase, will submit<br />
data on the performance of the<br />
construction in wind and weather.<br />
According to TNO/ECN, this is the first<br />
time a wind turbine will be tested in such a<br />
manner.<br />
The Haliade-X will also be equipped with<br />
instruments that ‘see’ approaching squalls<br />
and turbulences. Reflecting laser pulses of<br />
the ‘light radar’ will warn against all too<br />
heavy strains, so the blades can react in<br />
time and change their angles. The<br />
aeroelasticity, that is the extent of bending<br />
and twisting of the blades, and the<br />
prevention of resonation of the blades, are<br />
main issues during the tests. Also the yaw<br />
system (that steers the blades and the<br />
nacelle into the wind) can in the event of<br />
approaching strong winds be set to a larger<br />
resistance, thereby keeping the rotation<br />
speed and the temperature within the<br />
nacelle within limits.<br />
© Pondera<br />
At the inauguration, Ward Gommeren<br />
emphasized again that the 12 MW turbine<br />
will make it possible to take another step in<br />
reducing the Levelized Cost of Energy<br />
(LCoE), the price per MWh. The more<br />
power wind turbines produce, the less there<br />
are needed in a wind farm. That will<br />
reduce the costs of installing the<br />
monopiles, the nacelles and the blades, and<br />
later on the number of maintenance<br />
inspections at sea.<br />
According to Gommeren, there are already<br />
five or six installation vessels in service that<br />
are capable to install the Haliade-X. He<br />
expects that ‘within a few years’ globally a<br />
large number of these heavy lift vessels will<br />
be available for the setting up of these<br />
mega turbines.<br />
Benno Boeters<br />
<strong>01</strong>-<strong>2020</strong> | 41
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