Project: Kreekraksluis, Netherlands

Project:

Kreekraksluis

Owner:

DELTA NV + Eneco NV + Winvast BV + Scheldewind BV

Customer:

DELTA NV + Eneco NV + Winvast BV + Scheldewind BV

Electricity supply company:

Delta Netwerkbedrijf

Installed nominal output:

72.5 MW

Wind turbine:

N100/2500

Tower height and type:

80 m, steel tube tower IEC2a

Number of turbines:

31

Wind speed:

7.0 m/s

Site:

The wind farm is located on the Schelde-Rijnverbinding, south of Bergen op Zoom

Site description:

The turbines are located on both sides of the Schelde-Rijnverbinding canal.

Wind turbine generator layout:

Side by side on the bank of the canal.

Installation period:

April 2013 to September 2013

Grid connection:

October 2013

Supply schedule:

Nordex was responsible for repowering, delivering and installing the turbines as well as connecting them to the grid. In addition, Nordex was also contracted to supply Pre-mium service.

Service:

Nordex Energy GmbH, 15 years Premium

Guarantee:

2 years

The “Kreekraksluis” wind farm in the Netherlands is a major repowering project with Nordex turbines. In 2013 the manufacturer replaced 26 older 500 KW turbines with N100/2500-machines. In addition to this, the wind farm was extended to include five more turbines. The project was planned by four Dutch companies: the two energy suppliers DELTA NV and Eneco NV and the private operators Winvast BV and Scheldewind BV. The electricity is purchased by the power supplier Delta Netwerkbedrijf, which supplies 55,000 households with clean, green electricity.

Today the Kreekraksluis wind farm comprises a total of 31 turbines with an installed capacity of 72.5 MW. DELTA NV had been operating 26 turbines in the municipality of Reimerswaal since 1996. By increasing output the operators wanted to make a significant contribution to a greener power supply while making the mini-mum possible impact on the existing landscape. Now, thanks to the repow-ering measures and the extension of the wind farm an annual yield of around 210 GWh can be achieved. The wind farm is located on both sides of the Schelde-Rijnverbinding canal, near the Kreekraksluis sluice, south of Bergen op Zoom in the province of Zeeland. The site is divided into a north and south section by railway lines and a motorway. Due to the size of the wind farm Nordex has set up a permanent service station close by in order to maintain the machines. A Premium Service Contract has been signed for 15 years.

For this project both transport of the components through the narrow streets and dykes of the region and working with cranes directly next to the canal bank presented a particular challenge. Altogether ten trucks were needed per turbine (four for each tower, three for each nacelle and three for each rotor blade).

Because of the tight space manoeu-vring was extremely difficult; the vehicles had to reverse onto the con-struction site. The sluice was also in non-stop operation and the ships continued to pass through, meaning that in some cases work had to be done right next to hazardous goods (e.g. gas tankers). During the con-struction phase the building site was not closed off (a cycle path passed through the grounds) and the locals were very interested in the installation work, with the result that many tour-ists came to the site to take photos. So ensuring safety had top priority and a technician was permanently posted to continuously supervise the work processes.

Project: Kreekraksluis, Netherlands