The two companies — bidding together as the Crosswind consortium — have already taken the final investment decision for the project, which is due online in 2023.
Hollandse Kust Noord will feature 69 Siemens Gamesa turbines with power ratings of 11MW and rotor diameters of 200 metres. Crosswind has contracted Van Oord to build the project.
The project will supply at least 3.3TWh per year, the developers added.
It will also incorporate demonstrations of new technologies to balance the grid: a floating solar array, battery storage, “turbines that are optimally matched to each other to limit the mutual negative wind shadow effects” and green hydrogen. The two companies had previously announced their intention to use output from Hollandse Kust Noord to power a 200MW electrolyser.
Shell and Eneco explained that these measures should guarantee a continuous power supply, regardless of the wind resource.
The joint venture added that they want to work together with universities and scientific institutions to further develop technological innovations. The developers plan to share lessons learned in developing the project with a wider audience, including in academia, the consortium stated.
Auction regulator RVO stated that it had received multiple bids for the subsidy-free wind farm.
WindEurope's chief policy officer Pierre Tardieu explained that Shell and Eneco's bid to ensure better system integration and boost storage capabilities helped the consortium to be successul.
He added: “In its July Hydrogen Strategy the European Commission stressed the central role of renewable hydrogen in decarbonising shipping, aviation and parts of industry than cannot be directly electrified. The Hollandse Kust Noord tender shows the industry is playing its part.
"Europe now needs policies to help scale up electrolysers and boost demand for renewable hydrogen, alongside direct electrification measures, to deliver climate neutrality.”
The 759MW Hollandse Kust Noord Hollandse Kust Noord (759MW) Offshoreoff Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands, Europe Click to see full details site is the third Dutch offshore wind farm to be awarded to a developer without subsidy. Vattenfall will build the twin Hollandse Kust Zuid sites, which have a combined capacity of 1.5GW, having won previous tenders in 2018 and 2019.
The Swedish developer did not enter the latest auction round as it instead chose to priorotise its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
