The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) plans to publish a call for tenders for geotechnical investigations at IJmuiden Ver V and VI offshore wind sites around the end of June 2022.
Together with the two sites, the agreement with a successful tenderer will also include two other investigation areas, which RVO did not specify in its early information notice.
The offshore campaigns for the four investigation areas in the Dutch North Sea, to be awarded through two lots, are planned to be carried out in 2023.
One lot will be dedicated to seabed survey and one to an offshore borehole campaign including laboratory testing.
The IJmuiden Ver V and VI areas are located in the northern part of the IJmuiden Ver wind farm zone and will be able to accommodate around 2 GW of offshore wind capacity, on top of the 4 GW of capacity already planned in the IJmuiden Ver zone.
This March, RVO awarded a contract for geophysical investigations at the two sites to Fugro, with a plan to carry out the field work in the second and third quarter of 2022.
The Dutch government is set to issue two tenders for the permits to develop the IJmuiden Ver I, II ,III, and IV zones by 2025, with a tender for the two new sites planned for a later date.
In 2023, developers will bid for IJmuiden Ver I and II sites, and in 2025 a tender will be launched for IJmuiden Ver III and IV.
The Netherlands has recently doubled the total planned capacity for offshore wind energy by 2030 to around 21 GW. As part of this plan, the country has designated three new areas and has confirmed two previously designated areas in the North Sea for the development of offshore wind farms.
The areas , located to the north and northwest of the Netherlands, are: the northern part of IJmuiden Ver and the southern part of Hollandse Kust West (the two previously designated areas), and the three new wind energy areas Nederwiek, Lagelander, and Doordewind.