The world’s largest wind farm is on the homestretch [update]

Installation of the final wind turbines at the Netherlands’ Hollandse Kust Zuid 1.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm is now complete.

June 14: The last blade has now been placed (pictured above) after almost two years of construction. Over the next couple months, the wind turbines will be commissioned and tested, and Hollandse Kust Zuid is expected to be inaugurated later in 2023, project developer Vattenfall said.

The total number of turbines is 139, one less than the 140 originally planned. Last year, one of the foundations was damaged after a bulk carrier became rudderless during a storm and drifted through the wind farm.

It has not been decided yet what will happen with the location once the foundation has been removed next year.

Hollandse Kust Zuid is located 18-35 kilometers (11-22 miles) off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. It’s jointly owned by Vattenfall, BASF, and Allianz.

June 6: On June 2, Vattenfall posted on social media that the last turbine components had been loaded onto wind installation vessel Wind Osprey, and they’ve now arrived at the site.

The offshore wind farm consists of Siemens Gamesa 11.0-200 DD wind turbines – the largest-ever turbines to be installed at scale. They have a rotor diameter of 200 meters (656 feet) and a swept area of 31,400 square meters (337,987 square feet).

Not only will Hollandse Kust Zuid become the world’s largest offshore wind farm – stealing the title from the UK’s 1.3 GW Hornsea 2 – it’s also the world’s first offshore wind farm to be built without subsidy.

Hollandse Kust Zuid will have a renewable electricity output equivalent to the annual consumption of an astounding 1.5 million Dutch households. It’s expected to come online this summer.

Read more: Siemens Gamesa debuts a wind turbine tower made of sustainable steel

Photo: Vattenfall/Matthias Ibeler

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Photo: DHSS