Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp has announced that the Maasvlakte North zone was identified as the most suitable landfall location for onshore cables which will connect four 350MW offshore wind farms in the Hollandse Kust (zuid) zone to the grid, TenneT reports.
The offshore grid at Hollandse Kust (zuid) will consist of two offshore substations with two subsea power cables exporting the electricity to the shore, underground land cables, and an onshore transformer substation which will be built at Maasvlakte.
The decision on the preferred cable route was reached following the analysis of environmental impact assessments of the proposed routes, as well as their costs.
Back in July and August 2016, a Dutch consultancy Tauw Group carried out soil investigation on the proposed onshore cable routes for Hollandse Kust (zuid) leading either to a station at Wateringen, or to the station at Maasvlakte.
The four wind farms at the Hollandse Kust (zuid) zone will be connected to the grid between 2018 and 2021, according to current plans.
The Hollandse Kust (zuid) zone covers an area of 356 km². TenneT will build grid connections and construct the two offshore substations in the wind farm zone.
The subsidy and permit tender for sites Hollandse Kust (Zuid) I & II is planned to open in 2017, with the tender for the zones III and IV following a year later.