The 50-turbine first phase in north of the country is due to start producing energy from 2020, and will power the technology giant’s data centre, situated near Schiphol airport, south of Amsterdam.
The developer recently announced an investment of more than €200 million to replace the 93 turbines currently at the Wieringermeer wind farm with 99 more powerful machines.
Combined with an adjacent extension the project’s additional capacity of 115MW, Wieringermeer will have 100 turbines in total with a total capacity of 295MW when completed.
Vattenfall will own 82 of these turbines, the nearby Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) will own 17, and the remaining turbine will be reserved for local residents, the developer said.
Vattenfall and its Dutch subsidiary Nuon are currently in the process of selecting a turbine supplier for the project.
The Wieringermeer deal is Microsoft’s second European wind PPA, following a 15-year agreement for the output from the 37MW Tullahennel project in Kerry, Ireland, announced last month.
"Investing in local clean energy to power our local data center is a win-win for our business and the Netherlands," Brian Janous, general manager of energy at Microsoft, said.
"Microsoft is committed to bringing new renewable energy sources online to power our data centres."
