TenneT begins procurement of systems for Dutch energy hub

With a strong European presence, predominantly in the Netherlands and Germany, TenneT is one of the region’s leading grid operators with almost 5,000 employees and a turnover of around €4.1bn. Providing the required expertise to carry many cable installations on land, the company has now gone to market for its first project involving offshore renewable energy. 

The company has begun sourcing utilities for the Ijmuiden Ver—a Dutch offshore wind project expect to produce 2GW, including the platform itself and an HVDC system. The engineering of the land station, which will be connected to the offshore hub, was tendered and the procurement of a cabling contractor is due to take place this year.

‘Wind energy from the North Sea plays a crucial role in realising the ambitious offshore wind goals for the Netherlands and Europe. Households and certainly heavy users such as the industry need to electrify’, says Marco Kujipers, Director of Offshore Development at TenneT. 

‘TenneT's experience in offshore grid development combined with the expertise and insight of market partners have resulted in the 2GW grid connection that will play a very important role in unlocking the North Sea Power House as the source of sustainable energy for not only the Netherlands and Germany but in fact all of Northwest Europe’. 

With the previous HDVC, the energy capacity was 900MW, but the new development of the project will more than double the amount of energy produced and further increase the 700 MW AC configuration to triple its previous amount. The company has also stated that the new 2GW standard is less disruptive to the environment and minimise the amount of space required to produce more energy. With the project well underway, the first connection at Ijmuiden Ver is expected to be operational in 2028. 

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