Evelop and Ballast Nedam to build Dutch offshore wind farm

European companies Evelop and Ballast Nedam Concessies have won the exclusive right to develop a wind farm 30 km off the Netherlands.

The Scheveningen Buiten wind farm, which will be built outside the 12-mile zone off Scheveningen, is expected to be finished by 2011, and is intended to generate over 300 MW (sufficient to supply some 350,000 households with electricity).

The government has granted the two companies their permit application, including a critical environmental impact assessment.

The Scheveningen Buiten project is to make a significant contribution to achieving the targets the Dutch have set for renewable energy.

In a statement today, the two companies said they expect to develop more offshore wind projects in the Netherlands, in consultation with the government.

Evelop now has approximately 2200 MW of capacity in its offshore wind pipeline. In the North Sea, a 120 MW park is expected to be operational in March 2008. A project near Sheringham, within the British 12-mile zone, is to generate 315 MW. And the company said it believes it will be awarded a Belgian project imminently, intended to generate 330 MW.

Evelop is part of the Econcern group, one of Europe's 500 fastest growing companies.

Ballast Nedam Concessies is involved in developing new offshore wind farms in several European countries. In 2006, the parent company Ballast Nedam was responsible for building the first Dutch offshore wind farm in the North Sea at Egmond aan Zee.