One of the world’s largest wind farms has opened off the coast of the Netherlands.
The Gemini Offshore Wind Park covers an area of 68 square kilometres, and is comprised of 150 Siemens wind turbines.
It has a generating capacity of 600MW and will meet the energy needs of 1.5 million consumers over the next 15 years.
John Brace, chairman of the Board of Directors of Gemini, officially opened the massive offshore wind park in Eemshaven
Gemini claim he reduction in CO₂ emissions is comparable to the emissions of 50,000 cars that each drive 25,000 kilometres a year.
To celebrate the grand opening, a special dome tent was erected, in which a 360-degree video allowed visitors to imagine themselves taking a tour of Gemini’s wind turbines as they rotate 85 kilometres away in the North Sea.
Gemini is not visible from land, located 85 kilometres off the coast of Groningen. This location has some of the highest and most constant wind speeds in the North Sea, with an average wind speed of 36 kilometres per hour.
Matthais Haag, Managing Director of Gemini, said: “We successfully completed Gemini ahead of schedule, under budget and with an excellent safety record.
“Now fully operational, Gemini will produce 2.6 TWh of sustainable energy every year, reducing the Netherlands’ CO₂ emissions by 1.25 million tons.
“We are proud to make this contribution to the realisation of the Netherlands’ sustainability targets.”
The wind farm also has two offshore high-voltage substations.
Each substation is connected by to the land station in Eemshaven by a 110-kilometre export cable.
There, the electricity is converted to 380Kv and conveyed to the TenneT power station. Management and maintenance headquarters will be located in Eemshaven, and will create 75-100 permanent jobs.
Four companies combined forces to make Gemini possible: Northland Power (60% interest), Siemens (20%), Van Oord (10%) and HVC (10%).
The construction of the wind park required an investment of 2.8 billion euros.
The project was financed by 25 banks from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. To date, Gemini is the largest project financing for an offshore wind park.
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