Shell, Eneco join hands in 700-MW Dutch tender for Hollandse Kust Noord

Dutch utility Eneco and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (AMS:RDSA) have submitted a joint bid in the 700-MW tender for the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind zone in Dutch waters.

The duo is participating in the tender through their CrossWind joint venture, Eneco said in a press release on Thursday. Their proposal calls for the construction of a 759-MW wind farm that will become operational in 2023, generating around 3.3 TWh of electricity annually.

To be located around 18 km off the Dutch coast near the town of Egmond aan Zee, the power plant will be capable of meeting the electricity demand of more than one million Dutch homes, if constructed.

According to the statement, both companies have issued guarantees to CrossWind for investments in the construction and operation of the project.

To tackle the challenge of intermittency in electricity generation, CrossWind plans to invest in innovations that can potentially help balance the electricity network and keep societal costs low. "With CrossWind, we want to work towards the realisation of the first offshore wind farm with innovations with regards to system integration," said Kees-Jan Rameau, chief strategic growth officer at Eneco.

The tender for the Hollandse Kust Noord zone was initiated on April 2 and closed at the end of the month.

If CrossWind’s plan is implemented, the offshore wind farm will most likely power a 200-MW hydrogen plant that Shell will install on the Tweede Maasvlakte, creating a green hydrogen hub in the port of Rotterdam. The final investment decision for this project has still not been taken but Shell and its partners intend to bring the plant online by 2023 and initially produce green hydrogen for Shell’s refinery in Pernis. Once fully operational, the facility will be able to produce between 50,000 kg and 60,000 kg of hydrogen daily.

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