Shell, Nuon Open First Dutch Offshore Wind Farm

The Netherlands’ first offshore wind farm, built by Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell and Dutch power utility Nuon, opened officially on Wednesday.

The companies invested over 200 million euros (US$270 million) in the 108 megawatt wind park on the North Sea, which also serves as a demonstration project to gain technical knowledge and monitor the affects on marine life, they said.
“I am convinced that without the further deployment of offshore wind energy, it will be impossible to meet the present government’s ambitious goals for sustainable energy,” Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven said in the statement.

“We must therefore put in place procedures for licensing and subsidies that will bring about innovation and cost reductions,” said Van der Hoeven, whose ministry had initiated the first offshore wind farm.

The new Dutch coalition government, which took over in February, wants to increase the share of renewable energy to 20 percent in 2020, a target recently agreed by European Union leaders as part of efforts to fight climate change.

Clumsy bureaucratic procedures, however, has kept the share of wind energy small in the Netherlands, which has windy weather for most of the year.

Planet Ark