Ecowende has completed the installation of all 52 wind turbines at its Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea, concluding a five-month installation campaign carried out with Van Oord and Vestas.
The developer announced the completion on 2 November 2026, marking the transition to the final stage of construction. The project, which is expected to deliver approximately 760 MW to the Dutch electricity grid, is scheduled to become fully operational by the end of 2026.
Located approximately 53 kilometres off the coast of IJmuiden, the wind farm consists of 52 Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbines. The project is being developed by Ecowende, a joint venture between Shell, Eneco and Chubu Electric Power.
The installation campaign began on 30 May 2026, when the first turbine was installed using Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Boreas. According to the developer, all 52 units were installed over a period of exactly five months.
The purpose-built Boreas, equipped with a 3,310-tonne main crane, was deployed for both the foundation and turbine installation phases of the project.
For the turbine campaign, Vestas manufactured the turbine components and coordinated their transport and pre-assembly at Eemshaven in the Netherlands. Van Oord transported the assembled components to the offshore site aboard Boreas, while Vestas carried out the installation and commissioning activities using the vessel’s crane.
Van Oord’s broader construction responsibilities also covered the transport and installation of 52 monopile foundations, the installation of inter-array cables and the placement of scour protection around the foundations.
The foundation campaign was completed earlier in 2026, following the first monopile installation at Ecowende in December 2025.
The project subsequently reached its first electricity generation milestone in July, when the wind farm was connected to the offshore transmission infrastructure operated by TenneT.
According to Ecowende’s first-power announcement, the completed wind farm is expected to generate approximately 3.3 TWh of electricity annually, equivalent to around 3% of current Dutch electricity demand.
Although all turbines are now installed, the milestone does not represent completion of full commercial commissioning. Ecowende continues to target full operation by the end of 2026.
The project also incorporates environmental measures intended to assess and reduce the effects of offshore wind development on birds, bats and marine ecosystems.
Seven turbines have been equipped with a single red-painted rotor blade as part of a research programme examining whether increased visibility can reduce bird collisions.
Other measures include wider turbine spacing, elevated nacelle positions, adaptive turbine curtailment and radar-based monitoring systems using artificial intelligence to support the identification of bird and bat species.
Below the waterline, selected foundation and seabed features are designed to provide habitat for fish and other marine organisms. The project has also trialled alternative foundation installation methods intended to reduce underwater noise.
Ecowende chief executive Tjalling de Bruin said the completion of turbine installation would allow the project to focus increasingly on studying how offshore wind generation interacts with the surrounding environment.
The developer intends to share findings from its ecological monitoring activities with researchers, public authorities and other wind farm developers.
With the turbine installation campaign complete, the project is approaching its planned full operational phase, while ecological monitoring and evaluation will continue as part of Ecowende’s wider research programme.
