Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), through its renewables development division, Airtricity, has obtained consent from the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management for construction of the offshore wind farm “West-Rijn”, located in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

‘West-Rijn’ is the largest consented wind farm in the Netherlands, and once constructed, will make a major contribution to the Dutch national target of 6,000MW of offshore wind capacity by 2020. It will consist of up to 72 wind turbines with a total potential energy capacity of around 260MW (megawatts). It is located 40 kilometres off the Dutch North Sea coast, approximately 90 kilometres from the city of Rotterdam.

The focus will now be on the final phase of the development process, securing financial support from the Dutch government through its renewables support mechanism (‘SDE’).

Paul Dowling, Chief Executive of Airtricity said: ”This is a major achievement for SSE in particular and for the Dutch wind energy industry in general, being the first offshore wind farm to be consented in the Netherlands for almost seven years. The Dutch market is an important new area for SSE’s renewable development team and ‘West Rijn’ is the first in a number of projects which will give us the opportunity to become the leading offshore wind developer in The Netherlands.”

SSE has 3,500MW of renewable energy capacity (onshore wind, offshore wind, hydro and dedicated biomass) in operation, under construction or with consent in the UK and Ireland. Its target is to have 4,000MW in operation in the UK and Ireland by the end of 2013. It also has consent for a 300MW offshore wind farm in Germany and is actively developing further offshore wind farms in the Netherlands and Germany and onshore wind farms in Italy, Portugal and Sweden.

Tags: Scottish and Southern Energy plc