First Turbine Installed at Borssele III/IV Offshore Wind Project

The first offshore wind turbine has been installed at the Borssele III/IV wind project in the Dutch North Sea, the turbine builder MHI Vestas Offshore Wind has said.

"The first turbine at the 731.5 MW Borssele III/IV offshore wind project has now been installed by MHI Vestas at site 55 km off the coast of the Netherlands. The first of the 77 V164-9.5 MW wind turbines was installed by the project team after setting sail from the Port of Vlissingen on the Aeolus offshore installation vessel," MHI Vestas said Thursday.

The Borssele III & IV offshore wind farms are being built in the Dutch North Sea by Blauwwind, a consortium between Shell, Eneco, DGE and Van Oord.

When the project is completed, the Borssele III/IV project will supply electricity to 825,000 households, accounting for up to 2.3% of total Dutch electricity demand. Completion is expected within this year.

“First turbine installation at Borssele III/IV is a key milestone for the MHI Vestas team, who are working hard to deliver offshore wind projects across Europe in the midst of the Covid-19 challenge,” said Flemming Ougaard, Chief Operations Officer of MHI Vestas. 

“Our teams have been working exceptionally diligently to prepare all components of the 77 wind turbines for Borssele III/IV, and we are pleased to have installation of the V164-9.5 WTGs underway.”

“After completion of the foundations in April, the start of the turbine installation phase marks the next crucial and exciting step in the project,” said Roeland Borsboom, Project Director of Blauwwind. “Blauwwind and MHI Vestas have been collaborating well on design and fabrication, and we are now focusing on safe offshore works. Commissioning of the first string of turbines is expected in the course of the third quarter of 2020. That is when we expect to start production of power for our customers.”

Total expected energy production from the Borssele III/IV wind project is 3,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year.