With natural oil and gas reserves dwindling, renewable alternative energy sources are in high demand. Wind power is one of the most cost-competitive renewables today.

The Q7 wind farm, a 120 MW offshore wind park, comprising 60 Vestas V-80 wind turbine generators, is being built about 23 kilometres offshore from IJmuiden, in block Q7 of the Dutch Continental Shelf. The sixty wind turbines, each with a capacity of 2 Megawatts, will be placed at a depth of 19 - 24 metres. Q7 is located furthest offshore and placed in the deepest water.

The project, owned and developed by group companies of ENECO Holding N.V. (�EURoeENECO�EUR�), Econcern BV (�EURoeEconcern�EUR�) and Energy Investment Holdings (�EURoeEIH�EUR�), is built by Vestas Wind Systems A/S (�EURoeVestas�EUR�) and Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V (�EURoeVan Oord�EUR�) under separate construction contracts, and will initially be operated by Vestas Offshore, an affiliate of Vestas, under a 5-year warranty, operations and maintenance contract. Construction started this summer and is expected to be completed by 1 March 2008, for a total investment cost of EUR 383 million. It will sell electricity to ENECO Energy Trade B.V, an affiliate of ENECO and will benefit from the Dutch regime supporting investments in renewable energy projects in the Netherlands. It will produce approximately 400 GWh per year, enough to supply 125,000 households, and avoid the emission of 225,000 tons of carbon.

IMC can deliver a diverse marine spread required for offshore wind farm projects, including (crane) barges, tugs and crew tenders.

Below you will find a small photo impression of the project.

Pictures © Arie Ros