Today the on-land nearshore Windpark Westermeerwind transformer station was powered up. This is an important milestone for the project, because it is an absolute pre-requisite to be able to use the first wind turbine.

Transformer station
Siemens’ Project Manager Willie Wienholts: “The energy that the 48 wind turbines will generate in the IJsselmeer will be brought to the transformer station using electricity cables. The generated electricity is then transformed into high voltage in the transformer station and is fed onto TenneT’s national electricity grid. The transformer station has various switches that can connect or disconnect wind turbine clusters and transformers, for example, for maintenance reasons. Automatic protection, automatic control and remote control of the wind farm are also present in the transformer station. As well as power meters to deliver green power to Eneco”.

Important milestone reached
Westermeerwind Project manager Peter de Weijs: “Today we have reached an important milestone for the project. Connecting the transformer to high voltage is an absolute pre-requisite to be able to use the first wind turbine. The electricity cables between the now completed foundations of the future wind turbines in the water and the transformer station have been laid. Currently the last cables are being laid in between the foundations. The laying of 44 kilometres of cables between the wind turbines and the transformer station on land will be completed this month”.

Planning for the future
Tower sections, gondolas and rotors will be installed during the second half of this year. The first electricity is expected to reach land in autumn. From then on, the testing and entry into service of the turbines will take place. The entire park is expected to be ready in February 2016.

A press photograph is added to this press release, which is exempt from copyright.

Transformer Station Windpark Westermeerwind is ready

Windpark Westermeerwind
Windpark Westermeerwind is built in the water of the IJsselmeer along the dikes of the North East Polder. It is the largest nearshore wind farm in our country and consists of 48 3 MW wind turbines, positioned on two rows along the Westermeer dike and Noordermeer dike, and a transformer station on land. It is expected to generate wind energy for 160,000 households. See: www.westermeerwind.nl

Westermeerwind is part of Windpark Noordoostpolder with 86 windmills in the water and on land, along the dikes of the IJsselmeer. See: www.windparknoordoostpolder.nl

Westermeerwind has contracted out the supervision and management of Windpark Westermeerwind to Ventolines in Emmeloord. Siemens is the main contractor of Windpark Westermeerwind and will offer maintenance services for the wind farm for a period of at least fifteen years. Various Dutch companies cooperate with the project as subcontractors, including Van Oord and Mammoet for the foundations and the installation of wind turbines, and VBMS (VolkerWessels Boskalis Marine Solutions) for the cabling to the transformer station.