Shell-led Dutch wind farm delivers first electricity

Eneco Energy

19/06/2023 16:11

AMSTERDAM, June 19 (Reuters) - The first electricity has
been produced from the large Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind
farm, companies running the project said on Monday.
    In a statement, the CrossWind consortium led by Shell
 SHEL.L  and Mitsubishi  8058.T  subsidiary Eneco said it had
delivered several megawatt-hours worth of electricity to the
Dutch mainland via the electricity grid, operated by state-owned
TenneT.
    "In coming months production capacity will be constantly
increased, so the wind park will eventually generate 3.3 TWh
(terawatt-hours) a year," Eneco said in the statement.
    Hollandse Kust Noord, located 18.5 kms (11.5 miles) off the
Dutch coast, is expected to have capacity of 759 megawatts (MW)
when it is completed by the end of this year. 
    Retail giant Amazon  AMZN.O  will buy half of the project's
energy under a deal struck in 2021. Shell itself plans to use
electricity from the project to make green hydrogen at a 200 MW
plant under construction in Rotterdam. 
    The Netherlands plans to add around 1 gigawatt (GW) per year
of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea as it looks to hit a
target of 21 GW of offshore wind power by 2030. One gigawatt
capacity is enough to supply around 1 million households with
energy.

 (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Emma Rumney)
 ((toby.sterling@thomsonreuters.com;))