Van Oord and Vestas have installed the final wind turbine at the 760 MW Ecowende offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea, completing the turbine installation campaign less than five months after the first unit was put in place.
The 52nd turbine was installed at the Hollandse Kust West VI site on 30 October, according to Van Oord, which installed the first Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbine on 30 May and used its installation vessel Boreas for the work.
Van Oord has also installed the monopile foundations and inter-array cables. The contractor completed foundation installation in April, and the final batch of inter-array cables was loaded out in May.
The offshore wind farm, which generated its first power in July, is set to be fully operational by the end of 2026.
Developed by the Ecowende joint venture between Shell, Eneco and Chubu Electric Power, Hollandse Kust West VI is dubbed "the most ecological offshore wind farm to date", as it incorporates a range of measures designed to reduce impacts on birds, bats and marine life. These include a bird corridor with wider spacing between selected turbines, elevated nacelles, adaptive turbine curtailment and AI-based radar monitoring.
Seven turbines have also been fitted with one red-painted blade each to test whether the increased visibility can help reduce bird collisions.
Underwater measures include nature-inclusive scour protection, additional water-exchange openings in four monopile foundations to provide shelter for fish, and tree reefs at four cable crossings.
Ecowende is also installing oyster nurseries to support the recovery of native European flat oyster populations in the Dutch North Sea.
The developer plans to use the project to gather data on the ecological effects of offshore wind construction and operation and share the findings with researchers, authorities and other wind farm developers.