All but one of the eight potential post-2030 offshore wind farm zones in the Netherlands is expected to have a net lower Levelised Cost of Energy (LCoE) compared to the IJmuiden Ver Wind Farm Zone, a preliminary study published by the Dutch Government concludes.
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, commissioned Blix Consultancy and partners to conduct the LCoE study into the eight new search areas in the Dutch North Sea to determine whether further investigation is warranted. Combined, these post-2030 search areas have the potential for 64.9GW of new offshore wind capacity.
In the first stage of the study, indicative offshore wind farm (OWF) layouts within the search sites were used to determine potential LCoE and assess the impact of the main parameters analysed, such as size, shape, and orientation of the wind farms. In the second part, the locations of most of the search areas were amended and the impact of the grid connection system (GCS) was also factored into calculations. Based on its' modelling of potential sites within the new search areas (not including GCS), LCoE is expected to be 4-5.5% lower than for IJmuiden Ver, concludes the report. When factoring in GCS costs for the new areas one zone (Zone 7) is less attractive. Zone 7, which is hoped to have 8 GW of offshore wind capacity and would require a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connection to the grid (similar to IJmuiden Ver), was found to have a net overall LCoE (OWF + GCS) 2.3% higher than IJmuiden Ver. All other HVDC zones in the new search areas have a lower net overall LCoE.
