Oostpolderdijk wind farm

Oostpolderdijk is a wind farm near Eemshaven, the northeastern tip of the province of Groningen. The wind farm is built on the Oostpolderdijk. This is a primary dike, which means it protects us from outside water. In this case that of the Wadden Sea. Never before have wind turbines been placed on a primary sea dike!

During construction, we dealt efficiently with the limited space and there was never any danger of a dike breach. A challenge that called for research, innovations and state-of-the-art technology. So you could say that Oostpolderdijk wind farm is a technical tour de force.

Project status: In operation

Facts and figures

Delivered in

Number of turbines

00 meter

Shaft height

00 MW

Installed capacity

00 MW

Electricity production

about 00

households annually

Building on dykes more often

The Netherlands has some 3,500 kilometres of primary flood defences and there are plenty of opportunities for more wind farms there. And the innovations at Oostpolderdijk wind farm now make it possible to develop wind farms on a larger scale on dykes.

Advantages

Building wind turbines on primary flood defences has many advantages:

Wind turbines contribute to the affordability of the flood defences, as land payments go to the managers. And that means less of a burden on society.
The effects on local residents are minimal. Around dykes it is often spatial and relatively few people live there.
The area around a dike is often open. It blows a lot and hard and wind conditions are almost comparable to those at sea. This ensures a high energy yield from the wind farm and a maximum contribution to climate and energy goals.

Top 10 dike surfaces

We commissioned a technical analysis of dike surfaces in the Netherlands. These include robustness, the risk of a breach and underground risks. And we had research carried out into which environment lends itself best to a wind farm. Think of homes, airports, nature reserves, high-voltage cables and other wind farms near the dike.

Based on these analyses, we compiled a top 10 of dike surfaces most suitable for building a wind farm.

Deploy innovations at other locations too

The knowledge and experience gained at Oostpolderdijk also offer opportunities for wind farms at locations other than dykes. For example, at locations with limited space. A good example is the crane stand. From here, the wind turbine is normally erected or maintained by lifting various parts with cranes. When constructing the Oostpolderdijk, we worked with a climbing crane due to the limited space. After using a small crane to install the first elements of the wind turbine, we attached the climbing crane to the first rings and continued building the wind turbine from there.

We also learnt how to build and maintain turbines with as little environmental modification as possible. For example, we only brought in materials at the last minute and assembled them immediately, following the Just In Time principle. So we can use much of what we have learnt in the construction of new wind farms. Of course, every wind farm is tailor-made, but safe solutions and consideration for the environment are always paramount.