Windpark Noordoostpolder is an onshore and near-shore

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Upon completion in 2017, it was the largest wind farm in the Netherlands, and as of 2019 it is still one of the largest. Owner-operators are members of the Koepel Windenergie Noordoostpolder, a partnership of more than 100 agricultural entrepreneurs from the North East Polder (Noordoostpolder), and

Innogy Innogy SE was an energy company based in Essen, Germany. It is now merged and integrated into German energy company E.ON. History The company was created on 1 April 2016, by splitting the renewable, network and retail businesses of RWE into a ...

, a subsidiary of German energy company

RWE RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. The company is Europe's most climate threatening Company, the world's number two in offsh ...

.Windpark Noordoostpolder (project website)
/ref>

Planning

The Netherlands government gave its final approval for the project on 6 January 2011. The following year (8 February 2012), a ruling by the Council of State on an appeal brought before them by opponents of the wind park confirmed the government decision. Construction of access roads began in May 2012, and

power grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

operator

TenneT TenneT is a transmission system operator in the Netherlands and in a large part of Germany. ''TenneT B.V.'' is the national electricity transmission system operator of the Netherlands, headquartered in Arnhem. Controlled and owned by the Dutch g ...

began in June 2012 with expansion of the 110 kV transport network in order to connect the wind farm. A stone guided dam with a flora and fauna area was constructed, which serves as a shipping lane to safely divert shipping around the wind farm. Subsequently, the construction activity started on shore in 2013 and near shore in 2014.Windpark Noordoostpolder: Wind farm history
/ref> The wind farm is located along the

dikes Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes, ...

of the

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; fy, Iselmar, nds-nl, Iesselmeer), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed off inland bay in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with an a ...

on the western side of the North East Polder. A total of 86

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s have been erected; 48 are sited near-shore (Siemens, 3 MW) and 38 onshore (

Enercon E-126 The Enercon E-126 is an onshore wind turbine model manufactured by the German company Enercon. With a hub height of , rotor diameter of and a total height of , the turbine can generate up to of power, making it the largest wind turbine in the w ...

, 7.5 MW), for a combined generating capacity of 429 megawatts. The wind farm produces 1.4 TWh of electricity annually, enough to provide electricity to some 400,000 households. This is roughly the number of households in the two adjacent provinces of Flevoland and Friesland. Before the wind park was completed there were 55 older wind turbines in the same area: 50 along the Westermeerdijk and another 5 on and near the Zuidermeerdijk. The new wind farm generates significantly more energy than the previous wind farm, thanks to improved wind turbine technology. One new onshore wind turbine provides as much electricity as the previous 50 Westermeerdijk wind turbines put together. The older wind turbines were dismantled once the new farm was completed.

Wind farms

Westermeerwind

The Westermeerwind wind farm is a near-shore facility off the coast of the municipality of

Noordoostpolder Noordoostpolder (; en, "North-East Polder") is a polder and municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called '' Urker Land''. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the heart of the Noord ...

. A total of 48 wind turbines of type Siemens 3.0DD-108 (capacity of 3 MW each) have been placed in water depths of 3–7 meters. The combined capacity of the turbines is 144 MW. Construction of the offshore work began in 2014, with commissioning carried out in two phases in 2015 and 2016.

NOP Agrowind

The majority of the onshore wind turbines are operated by NOP Agrowind. There are 26 wind turbines of type Enercon E-126, which have a nominal output of 7.5 MW each. The combined capacity of the turbines is 195 MW. Each turbine is next to the Westermeerdijk (Western Sea Dike) or the Noordermeerdijk (Northern Sea Dike) in close proximity to the near-shore turbines. The first turbine was commissioned in August 2014 and the wind farm was completed in 2016.

Zuidwester

The Zuidwester wind farm comprises 12 Enercon E-126 turbines with a combined capacity of 90 MW. As in the northern parts of the Noordoostpolder, the turbines are right next to the dike. The operator of the wind farm is RWE.''Enercon to supply 90MW Dutch project''
''Windpower Monthly'', 27 May 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014. The first turbines were installed in 2015, and Zuidwester came on stream in 2017.

References

External links

{{Commonscat, Wind farms in de Noordoostpolder
Windpark Noordoostpolder (project website)
Wind farms in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Flevoland Noordoostpolder