Ecowende has installed the first wind turbine at its offshore wind farm located approximately 53 km off the coast of IJmuiden in the Netherlands. The installation was carried out by Van Oord using its offshore installation vessel Boreas. The project will comprise 52 Vestas V236-15.0 MW turbines and will have a total installed capacity of 760 MW when fully operational.
As part of a bird protection study, seven turbines will be fitted with a single red-painted blade. The initiative aims to assess whether increased rotor visibility can help reduce bird collisions.
Additional biodiversity measures include the creation of a bird corridor between the Dutch coast and the Natura 2000 area De Bruine Bank, wider spacing between turbines and higher nacelle positions to provide seabirds with greater clearance beneath the rotor sweep. The project will also employ adaptive curtailment systems and radar-based monitoring with artificial intelligence-assisted species recognition to reduce collision risks for birds and bats.
Ecowende is using bird radar systems, thermal and daylight cameras, and impact sensors to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these measures.
Vestas is responsible for manufacturing the turbines and managing transport and pre-assembly activities at the port of Eemshaven. Van Oord transports the assembled turbine components offshore aboard Boreas, while Vestas completes installation and commissioning at the site.
Van Oord is also responsible for transporting and installing all 52 monopile foundations, laying the inter-array cables and installing scour protection around the foundations.
image: Credit Ecowende and Flying Focus
