WEBINAR ON OFFSHORE WIND IN THE NETHERLANDS

On the 20th of April 2023 KIVI Kring Caribbean – Aruba and KIVI Kring Caribbean – Curaçao held their first Webinar on windfarms.

This webinar was presented by Mr. André Craens, Senior policy advisor offshore wind at Netherlands Wind Energy Association (NWEA). Mr. Craens gave an overview of the lessons learned in the Netherlands when developing wind energy projects, such as start by involving all stakeholders, keep an holistic approach such as system integration, ecology, marine security etc. and go for quality. A very interesting issue is the North Sea consultation group of all stakeholders (see Noordzeeoverleg | Noordzeeoverleg ).

During the presentation a reference was made to the recently published Outlook on Energysystem 2050 (see Outlook Energiesysteem 2050 | Expertteam Energiesysteem 2050 (etes2050.nl)) for the Netherlands. In this publication it was stated that in future electricity will be the most important element in the energy consumption while others i.e. Hydrogen will play very limited role. The presentation by Mr. André Craens of NWEA can be found here…

You can find the sheets of the presentation of André Craens under 'Documenten'

KIVI KRING CARIBBEAN – ARUBA & CURAÇAO ORGANIZE THE FOLLOWING WEBINAR ON WINDFARMS, ON- AND OFFSHORE

In August 2022 the Government of Aruba announced that a second windfarm onshore is being considered. Since then the government also announced that about 25 companies are  interested in the windfarm project onshore. It’s location is planned at the area of Rincon not so far from the first windfarm at Vader Piet Aruba, shown in the following picture presented by the Government of Aruba. The energy mix (wind, solar and fossil fuels) generated on Aruba is presented in the Aruba's Realtime Renewable Energy Monitor at WEB Aruba N.V. | Renewable energy dashboard.

Government of Aruba: wind park at Vader Piet Aruba

Worldwide people are concerned about the development of windfarms onshore for there is a downside to wind energy. Next to limited space, visual impacts on the landscape and noise, windfarms have a local impact on wildlife (birds) but also cause nuisance to people living nearby.

So during this webinar Mr. André Craens, Senior Policy Advisor offshore wind at Netherlands Wind Energy Association (NWEA – NWEA - Nederlandse WindEnergie Associatie branchevereniging ), presents the socio-economic and technical bottlenecks of windfarms experienced so far in the Netherlands. Mr. Craens has degrees in software engineering, economics and business management. He joined NWEA in 2021 and is involved in the development of windfarms offshore the Netherlands.

Here in the Dutch Caribbean, the main issue could be the limited space available onshore for more windfarms. However based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or UNCLOS, Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire are lucky to be the competent countries  for offshore development of windfarms due to their 200 miles Exclusive Economic  Zone extending towards the Dominican Republic. In the following figure obtained from the Dutch Ministry of Defense (Hydrography department), the competency area of the three Dutch islands is presented:

From Dutch Defensie.nl / Hydrography

KIVI Kring Caribbean - Aruba in close cooperation with the KIVI Kring Caribbean - Curaçao invite all engineers and others who are interested in the development of windfarms on – and offshore to attend this webinar.

The webinar will take place on Thursday April 20, 2023 from 10 to 11 a.m. local time (16:00 to 17:00 hrs Netherlands time) on Zoom and is free of charge. You can register via the website.

 

Documenten