RWE and TotalEnergies have entered into a partnership agreement to jointly deliver the OranjeWind offshore wind project in the Netherlands, with TotalEnergies will acquire a 50% equity stake in the offshore wind farm from RWE. The OranjeWind project will be the first system integration project in the Dutch market. It aims to perfectly match intermittent wind power generation with flexible energy demand and will thus contribute to grid stability. To this end, TotalEnergies and RWE are committed to implementing flexible demand solutions across different locations in the Netherlands.
RWE and TotalEnergies have also taken the investment decision to build the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, which will have an installed capacity of 795 megawatts (MW). Suppliers for the main components have already been selected. OranjeWind is located in the North Sea, approximately 53 kilometres from IJmuiden on the Dutch coast, in the province of Noord-Holland. RWE will lead the development, construction and operation of the wind farm on behalf of the joint venture. Offshore construction is scheduled to start in 2026, with full commissioning expected in early 2028. With an expected annual generation of around 3 terawatt hours OranjeWind will produce enough green electricity to supply the equivalent of more than one million Dutch households.
Sven Utermöhlen, CEO RWE Offshore Wind: “The Netherlands is one of our strategic core markets to grow our green portfolio. In TotalEnergies I am delighted to have a strong partner at our side with whom we can realise our first offshore wind project in the Netherlands and at the same time unlock the full system integration of OranjeWind. Together, we will provide a blueprint for the Dutch energy system of the future, designed to tackle the challenges of intermittent wind generation and flexible energy demand. As key players in the Dutch energy market, we are both committed to helping the Netherlands meet its decarbonisation targets.”
Stéphane Michel, President Gas, Renewables & Power, and Bernard Pinatel, President Refining & Chemicals, TotalEnergies: “We are looking forward to working with RWE, a major player in renewable, on a project that will enable us to develop production of green hydrogen, which we need to decarbonise our refineries in northern Europe. This integrated, innovative project perfectly illustrates our pioneering role in the energy transition in Europe, especially through the emergence of offshore wind power linked to green hydrogen electrolysers in the Netherlands.”
OranjeWind: A perfect match of supply and demand
In order to address the challenges presented by matching intermittent electricity production from renewables with flexible demand for energy, a key part of the OranjeWind project is its integration into the Dutch energy system. To this end, each partner will deliver their allocated part of system integration solutions, including electrolysers, smart charging solutions for electric vehicles, e-boilers for heating and battery storage.
Paving the way for innovative solutions
Part of the OranjeWind project is also to accelerate the commercial application of new offshore technologies by supporting a vast amount of innovators and start-ups in demonstrating their innovation in an operational environment. To allow more efficient use of ocean space, an offshore demonstration floating solar farm is currently being developed by RWE in collaboration with SolarDuck, a Dutch-Norwegian company that specialises in offshore floating solar solutions. Furthermore, the partners are looking at using scanning LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging system), a technology that can accurately measure wind at long ranges. In addition, the OranjeWind project is also to demonstrate a seabed battery system developed in cooperation with Verlume and a pumped hydro-storage system in collaboration with Ocean Grazer.
Experienced supply chain partners selected to deliver OranjeWind offshore wind farm
For the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, a turbine supply agreement was signed with Vestas for 53 of its 15-MW turbines (V236) and a foundation supply agreement was made with SiF for 53 monopiles. The inter-array cables will be supplied by TKF. Jan De Nul was contracted to transport and install the foundations and wind turbines, using its floating heavy lift vessel “Les Alizés” and its jack-up installation vessel “Voltaire”. The offshore grid connection will be implemented by the network operator TenneT. For this purpose, the inter-array cables will be connected to the TenneT-owned offshore substation from where the export cables will run to the high-voltage onshore substation in Wijk aan Zee.
An OranjeWind project map and pictures of RWE’s European offshore wind projects are available at the RWE Media Centre (Credit: RWE).
