TenneT: Offshore wind energy in North Sea to play key role in European energy

Abstract

54 ZREE N°4/2018 EOLIENNES OFFSHORE DOSSIER 1 Back to the future It is the year 2050. At a central lo- cation in the North Sea, where the Exclusive Economic Zones of Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands meet, there is a brand-new artificial island measuring some eight square kilometers. It has a high-tech multifunctional maintenance and dis- tribution centre, with its own hydrogen plant, and connects large-scale offshore wind energy capacity to direct-current electricity infrastructure and gas pipes. The artificial island is the result of an ex- ceptional feat of engineering and inter- national collaboration. At present this artificial far shore island exists only on paper, under the TenneT: Offshore wind energy in North Sea to play key role in European energy transition Marco Kuijpers TenneT Senior Manager Offshore Netherlands TenneT is Europe’s first cross-border Transmis- sion Operator (TSO) and manages the high- voltage electricity grid in the Netherlands and a large part of Germany. In both countries, the government has also designated TenneT as the developer and operator of the offshore grid. This paper describes the main offshore wind farm project