A consortium of sellers, including Van Oord, has sold its shares in the Borssele V innovation offshore wind farm to Octopus Energy Generation, one of the largest renewable energy investors in Europe.
Designated an innovation site, the Borssele V offshore wind farm (19 MW) consists of two large Vestas wind turbines - each as tall as the Maastoren building in Rotterdam - and is located in the 1.5 GW Borssele wind farm cluster in the North Sea.
Borssele V has been operational since 2021 and is operated by Eneco. Dutch green energy company Vandebron is the offtaker, supplying the green power generated by the wind farm to clients in the Netherlands. The wind farm creates enough electricity to power 25,000 households a year, offsetting 16,000 tonnes of carbon emissions, equal to taking 10,000 petrol cars off the road.
"The sale confirms the success of innovations demonstrated in Borssele V, including the world’s first submerged slip joint, a new method for securing turbine foundations, and technologies that promote marine biodiversity around wind turbines," Van Oord said.
One of the innovations tested at the wind farm is the slip joint, an alternative connection between foundation elements, a monopile, and a transition piece. It consists of two conical sections placed on top of each other. Also, at the Borssele V Site, technologies such as Thermally Sprayed Aluminium (TSA), Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) optimization and oval cable entry holes are also incorporated.
"The successful sale of Borssele V is the next step in Van Oord’s offshore wind strategy, as it will seek to offer the innovative slip joint solution on a larger scale in new tenders. Van Oord will monitor and analyse the behaviour of the slip joint for an additional six years as it continues to study and improve the technology," Van Oord said.
"Van Oord’s decision to sell its interest in the Borssele V wind farm is in line with its strategy of recycling capital for future projects once its financial support is no longer required. The same strategy was recently applied on Borssele III/IV," the company said.