Borssele wind farm zone

Particulars of the wind farm

The Borssele wind farm zone, off the coast of Zeeland, is the first zone that was developed with the aim of generating more renewable energy. The wind farm zone is made up of two wind farms, both with two sites, and an ‘innovation site’. When conditions are clear, the wind farm can be seen from Westkapelle. The electricity is brought to land near Borssele by transmission cables and, from there, distributed to the national high voltage network.

Sites

The permits for the sites that make up the Borssele wind farm zone were issued to:

• Borssele I/II: Ørsted
• Borssele III/IV: Blauwwind
• Borssele V: Two Towers

You can find all reports and decisions on the website of RVO Bureau energieprojecten.

Here, you will find documents such as:

• the Range and Detail Memorandum (NRD);
• the Environmental Impact Report;
• the site decisions.

Free passage

The Borssele wind farm zone is closed to through shipping through the wind farms; shipping may pass solely through the corridor. Vessels with a length of up to 45 metres can use the corridor.

The 'Code of conduct for safe passage through the Borssele Wind Farm Pass' (pdf, 250 kB) covers the rules and safety tips for shipping passing through the Borssele wind farm zone.

Shared use

In the North Sea 2016-2021 Policy Memorandum a decision was made to open the wind farms for shared use by means of multiple use of space. The following sorts of shared use are possible in offshore wind farms:

• Marine aquaculture (including seafood and seaweed)
• Other forms of renewable energy generation and storage (including solar or tidal energy)
• Projects promoting nature (e.g. oyster recovery, fish refuges, artificial reefs)
• Passive fishing (including crab traps and lobster creels)

An ‘Area Passport’ guide has been produced for the Borssele wind farm zone. This Area Passport guide uses features specific to the area to indicate where shared use is possible, which forms of this have the greatest chance of success and can best be accommodated and, as such, are preferable. The Area Passport guide is primarily a guideline.

A permit must be acquired under the terms of the Water Act before starting any shared use activity. You can see how to go about this in this video:

Full tekst video Wind Farms Shared use

See also the short version of the application procedure for shared use . The Area Passport guide for the Borssele wind farm zone can be found here .

See also the Administrative Ruling of General Application (B.A.S.) establishing safety zones for the Borssele wind farm zone, which is published in the  Government Gazette.

Mussel farm in site III

According to the Area Passport, site III is reserved for marine aquaculture. At the beginning of 2022, a permit was granted for the construction and use of a mussel farm in this site. This pilot project is the first form of shared use in a wind energy area in the Dutch North Sea.

Tender procedure site II

Space has been reserved in site II for experiments with passive fishing. LNV, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, will start a tender procedure with conditions for allocating the space. The fishing techniques that are eligible for an experiment in the Borssele wind farm zone are crab traps and creels to catch crabs, lobsters etc., bottom longline and hand line. The decision relating to establishment of the safety zone includes nautical specifications for the experiments with passive fishing.

Borssele Windfarm Zone

Legend Borssele wind farm zone:

• Natuurinclusief bouwen = Nature-inclusive construction (Δ violet)
• Maricultuur = Marine aquacultuur (light blue)
• Passieve visserij = Passive fishing (dark blue)
• Opwekking duurzame energie = Generation of renewable energy (yellow)
• Natuurontwikkeling = Nature development (green)
• Vrije keus/innovaties/nader te bepalen = Free choice/innovation/to be determined (grey)