Energy for 500,000 households

Wind Farm Fryslân consists of 89 4.3 megawatt (MW) turbines. Annually, WFF will produce some 1.5 terawatt hours* (1,500,000 megawatt hours). This is approximately 1.2% of the electricity use in the Netherlands, corresponding to the consumption of some 500,000 households.

89

89 wind turbines in the IJsselmeer.

500.000

Frisian wind energy for some 500,000 households.

800.000

CO₂ reductions of approximately 800,000 tonnes per year.

Location and form

Wind Farm Fryslân will have a unique form. The wind turbines will be arranged in the form of a hexagon. This arrangement will ensure that the wind turbines disrupt the view as little as possible. The distance between the wind turbines is approximately 600 metres.

The wind turbines of Wind Farm Fryslân

The wind turbines of Wind Farm Fryslân are 180 metres tall. As a comparison: the Achmea tower in Leeuwarden is 115 metres tall. Factories in places as diverse as Friesland, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Portugal and Morocco have manufactured parts of the wind turbines. These include the internal and external platforms, the foundations, the towers, the rotors (rotating part of the generator) and the blades.

The company Amicon (previously Bijlsma Constructies) from Winsum in Friesland is building the ‘internal platforms’ for the wind turbines. Watch here the vlog with Symen de Boer of Amicon about the construction of the internal platforms.

How does a wind turbine work?

The strong winds on the IJsselmeer will cause the rotor blades of the wind turbines to turn. Behind the rotor blades is the generator. This is put into motion by the rotating movement of the rotor blades, which in turn generates the wind energy.

The generated energy is transported, via a power cable, through the foundation of the wind turbine, underneath the bottom of the IJsselmeer to the transformer station at Breezanddijk. There, the electricity of the wind turbines is converted into high voltage for the electricity grid in Friesland. The electricity enters the Friesland electricity grid via two high-voltage cables.

In the unique substation the electricity from the wind turbines is converted to high voltage for the electricity grid in Friesland. Aluminium plates on the outside wall of the new transformer station (42 metres long, 18 metres wide and 7 metres high) literally show the power of the wind. The manner in which flexible parts of these plates have been mounted, allows them to move in the wind.

Learning about wind energy

The building has an educational function. Through glass walls and from the information in the building visitors can learn about wind power and see how the green electricity is brought over from the IJsselmeer to Friesland.

In order to bring the generated energy from the wind turbines to the users, we lay power cables on land and in the IJsselmeer. The power cables run from the wind turbines in the IJsselmeer to the transformer station in Breezanddijk. The power will run from the transformer station via cables in the Afsluitdijk and along the A7 to the TenneT high-voltage grid at Oudehaske.

Contracting consortium Zuiderzeewind built the work platform before the start of the pile-driving of the foundations of the wind turbines. The work platform consists of an area of some 2 hectares above water and two shallow water zones together comprising some 25 hectares. The area will be protected from waves and currents by an 800 metre long breakwater onto the section above water. The shallow water zones are not open to water traffic. This gives nature time to develop further. The part of the work platform above water can be used for the storage of materials. The channel, between the two shallow parts, can be used by work vessels to wait or to find shelter alongside the work platform.

By the end of 2020 Zuiderzeewind had already turned the work platform into a nature reserve. The nature reserve will become an attractive foraging and resting area for birds and alongside it an artificial reef for fish. From the moment the first wind turbine turns, the entire island will only have a natural function and may no longer be used as a work platform.

During the last couple of months of 2020, work has been carried out alongside the work platform and nature reserve on the realisation of part of the Fish Migration River. This work has been taking place by the shallow water zones of the nature reserve.