Questions and Answers

Technical facts & figures

How much space will the wind farm take up? How many turbines are there?

Less then 13 km²; 60 wind turbines of 2 MW each.

Is there a future plan to expand the wind farm or build other sites?

The Netherlands have made a spatial reservation for 6000 MW offshore. Also, 6000 MW used to be a governmental goal for 2020. However, this goal has been left because of higher then expected costs related to the realization. Also, the incentive scheme (MEP) has been put to zero. Currently, government is working together with stakeholders on the
reformulation of policy on offshore wind energy. Several companies (also Evelop for Econcern) are working on the preparation of offshore projects in the Dutch Exclusive Economic Zone. Building applications for over 1500 MW have been sent in.

In percentage terms, how much of the overall Dutch electricity production will come from the wind farm's expected annual output 438 GWh?

Expected is 438 GWh, which should be compared to a total consumption of about 110TWh. This means that about 0.4% will come from this wind farm. The electricity produced by wind farm is enough for 125,000 households and avoids the emission of 225,000 tons of carbon.

What percentage of total Dutch wind power will come from the site?

Currently the wind production is about 2500 GWh. So Q7 will add about 17%. Q7 is the largest Dutch wind farm.

What is the difference between Q7 and NSW?

Q7 is located further off the coast, in deeper water and is non-recoursed financed. It is not a demonstration park but a commercial park, has less visual impact and less influence on birds.

What kind of wind turbines are being used?

Vestas are being used, these are V-80 wind turbines with a 59 m axis height.

What happens when there is hardly any wind?

Then the turbines will not work; this will only be the case in about 5% of the time

How does the consortium propose to tackle the problems of breakdowns and reliability that have affected other wind farms?

We are happy to have chosen the turbine type that has been applied in more offshore wind farms than any other type. Currently, more than 1500 V80 turbines have been installed worldwide (on- and offshore). Problems have existed with the V80. However Vestas has a continuous improvement program in place, so all lessons learned will be applied in the Q7 wind farm. Secondly, an insurance plan is in place to cover the possible financial consequences. The project owners will carefully monitor the behavior of the wind farm, whereas the turbine supplier, Vestas is in charge of maintenance. Vestas has an incentive to make sure the turbines perform up to their best performance.