At the Gemini Wind Park’s inauguration ceremony on Monday, Matthias Haag, Gemini’s managing director announced, “We successfully completed Gemini ahead of schedule, under budget and with an excellent safety record,” celebrating the end of a project started in 2010, according to The Engineer.
The choice of the area for the wind farm was purposely made by Gemini because the location has some of the highest and most consistent wind speeds in the North Sea, with speeds averaging 36 kilometers (22.4 miles) an hour. There are 150 turbines covering an area of 68 square kilometers (26.3 square miles).
The project was a collaboration between the Canadian independent renewable-energy company Northland Power, wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Wind Power, Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord and waste processing company HVC. The 2.8-billion-euro ($3 billion) wind farm will provide a production capacity of 2.6 terawatts of electricity annually.
The Siemens wind turbines will provide power to two offshore high-voltage substations. Each of the substations is connected to a land station in Eemshaven by an 110-kilometer (68.3 miles) long export cable. From there, the electricity is converted to 380Kv and delivered to the grid.
The Guardian is reporting that over the next 15 years, Gemini Wind Park is expected to meet the energy needs of about 1.5 million people. When fully operational, the wind farm will help to meet the electricity needs of 785,000 Dutch households, according to the company.
The wind farm will contribute around 13 percent of the country’s total renewable energy needs and 25 percent of its wind power. The small European Union country is still dependent on fossil fuels for 95 percent of its energy needs. Netherlands is committed to ensuring that 14 percent of its energy will come from renewables by 2020 and 16 percent by 2023. Their aim is to be carbon neutral by 2050, according to Deutsche Welle.
