Wind energy

The Dutch are working hard to develop wind power capabilities. The government wants the Netherlands to generate between 15 and 20% of its electricity from wind power by 2020: that is 1500 Megawatts (MW) from wind turbines on land and 6000 MW from wind parks on the sea.

According to the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (generally abbreviated to VROM in Dutch), 2216 MW of wind energy was already being generated in the Netherlands by the end of 2008. That was approximately 470 MW more than in 2007. On May 14th 2009, Minister Van der Hoeven of Economic Affairs opened Westereems wind park in the Eemshaven; according to its owner Essent, this is the largest wind park in the Netherlands. It has 52 turbines which together generate 156 MW of electricity – enough to meet the electricity requirements of some 135,000 households.

A bit of Delft in every wind turbine

TU Delft conducts research on a number of aspects of wind energy.

• Read the blog on the visibility of wind turbines from the Director of DUWIND, Gijs van Kuik
• Read more about wind energy research at TU Delft