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Energy islands are no longer being considered in the Netherlands. Instead, the focus has been shifted to offshore energy hubs and interconnectors. With rising (cyber)security concerns as a result of a number of recent incidents in European waters, as well as the Russia-Ukraine war, diversification of the energy system is high on the agenda. Offshore wind and offshore solar sound just like the perfect couple, but where does hydrogen fit in? At the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference (OEEC) panel session on grids and interconnectors, Huygen van Steen, Program Manager Offshore Wind and Energy System at the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), Joris Koornneef, Lead scientist North Sea Energy Program at Dutch research institute TNO, Saskia Jaarsma, Head of Offshore Development – Large Projects Offshore at Dutch transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT, and Michiel van Rij, Country Lead Offshore Wind Development Netherlands at RWE, noted that net zero could not be reached unless the appropriate grid is in place. According to Koornneef, the Netherlands has challenges in connecting all the offshore wind and renewable energy projects to the grid, as well as the electrification of the biggest consumer of the future, the industry, thus the grid takes time to develop. “It is a challenging task to get the grid ready in time to electrify all the processes that you can electrify. Then you have challenges to also put in the hydrogen grid, in the Netherlands but also the Northwestern Europe domain, and the CO2 grid. There are three grids that need to develop and all three struggle with deploying in time. This has to do with the spatial constraints in developing the grid, but also the business case to support the whole value chain in investing in those grids, in those future business cases,” Koornneef noted. All the easy options are gone, prompting investigation at all concepts, as well as deeper inland connections, Van Steen said, speaking from the government perspective. The current focus is on offshore energy hubs which are central points to collect and distribute energy, also allowing the integration of other systems. “From the government side, we no longer speak of energy islands, but we speak of energy hubs offshore. The foundation concept depends on the location. At the moment we are looking at a big area, called Search Area 6/7, with about 20 GW. I think it will be designated next year. A platform concept for an energy hub will be the most feasible. That is what we are now going to further explore as a first or second step after the interconnector,” Van Steen said. According to Jaarsma from TenneT, which studied the energy island concept, spatial considerations are not in the Netherlands’ favor and working with islands is less convenient, but the Ijmuiden Ver area might have been physically suitable for an island. Energy islands furthermore do not compare well in terms of affordability and permitting: “We see in other countries like Denmark that they are also having issues with bringing the islands ahead. From our perspective, we still think platform-based solutions are the way forward. You can also think of mother-daughter constructions that add on future capacities to an existing concept,” Jaarsma said. TNO is studying the concept post-2040 on the Dutch continental shelf. Koornneef said: “If Netherlands wants to go towards a 70 GW future and Europe a 300 GW offshore wind future, then the energy island could be a nice opportunity to have in the northern part of the Netherlands. An energy island that is also a service hub could also be multifunctional. Not just for wind or for collecting energy, but multi-purpose in having maybe defense monitoring, those kinds of facilities. It is post-2040 that we are studying it because of the long lead time.” According to TNO’s lead scientist, it is interesting to study offshore hubs that have offshore wind and offshore solar, which could also be offshore wave and tidal and energy storage. Electricity storage in the offshore domain is also being studied heavily and could alleviate this grid. Solar is complementary with offshore wind, and wave and tidal are much more predictable, so they could serve together in making optimal use of offshore grids. However, there is a lot to be done on the regulatory framework and in standardization of how to connect these energy assets. Technically, there need to be improvements and cost reductions, but certainly, in the regulatory and standardization domain a lot needs to happen to roll out these technologies fast. From a technical point of view, there is complementarity between offshore wind and offshore solar. TenneT is looking into these options, currently not possible, but also not fully endorsed: “Maybe in the future we can think about and come to an approach with these sectors where the sites are tendered for a bigger size allowing for more wind combined with offshore solar or other conversion technologies to increase the connected power to the offshore grid. That way we can make better use of our assets and that is the development we definitely support,” Jaarsma said. RWE’s Van Rij believes that the priority is to get the electricity grid in place both on the national and international level, focusing on collaboration with North Sea countries and finding a way they can interconnect, sharing cost, and coordinating on different topics. Of note, Dutch TenneT and the UK’s National Grid are developing the LionLink multi-purpose interconnector that will connect a Dutch offshore wind farm with a capacity of 2 GW to both countries via subsea interconnectors. |
