How the Dutch built the world's largest freshwater wind farm
Windpark Fryslân faced local opposition, but offers benefits to local communities
Viewed from above, 89 wind turbines form a striking hexagon of white pinpoints against dark blue water. What makes Windpark Fryslân unusual isn't just its shape, but the fact that the offshore wind farm isn't far out in the ocean. It's just six kilometres from a shore dotted with villages in a shallow lake in the Netherlands.
Anne de Groot is project director of Windpark Fryslân and Windpark Westermeerwind on the same lake, IJsselmeer. He said the freshwater locations posed some technical challenges.
"Everything was basically different than onshore," he said.
There are also challenges compared to traditional offshore wind — including human neighbours who often aren't keen on a big change to their surroundings.
Ontario vs. the Netherlands
Large lakes have the potential to host offshore wind farms that generate clean energy near the populations that use it. In Canada, some environmental groups and energy developers have been pushing for that in the windy Great Lakes of Ontario, as a growing portion of the province's electricity is produced by burning climate-changing natural gas.
But offshore wind has been banned in Ontario since 2011. The Liberal government at the time imposed a moratorium amid public opposition to several offshore wind projects under development. The current Progressive Conservative government confirmed to CBC News in April that it's not approving the development of offshore wind projects because of the moratorium. It didn't respond to the question of whether it considered lifting the moratorium.
So what's different in the Netherlands? How did the largest freshwater wind farm in the world get built?
Local opposition to Windpark Fryslân
Like Canada, the Netherlands aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. One of its strategies is clean energy. Electricity generation from renewables grew from three per cent to 39.7 per cent between 2000 and 2022, the International Energy Agency reports. Of that, 59 per cent is wind.
But that doesn't mean Dutch citizens embrace the idea of wind turbines near their homes.
Arnoud Boerkoel is a spokesperson for the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân, closest to Windpark Fryslân. He said many people agree that emissions need to be cut, and aren't against wind power or even wind turbines.
Even so, there was lots of opposition to Windpark Fryslân from both local residents and the municipal council.
"People were afraid it would ruin their view; it would ruin tourism in the neighbourhood," Boerkoel recalled.
De Groot said, "It's usual in the Netherlands, as it's densely populated, that such a huge change in the landscape will face opposition."
However, he said it's generally not enough to stop a project that has political support, has carefully researched potential impacts on local wildlife, and followed all the proper procedures.
Boerkoel said in the case of Windpark Fryslân, the municipality was "strongly against it, but it was beyond our influence to stop it."
That's because it was supported by higher levels of government, which have national targets for wind deployment, and oblige all 12 provinces to contribute. (Another proposed wind farm on the same lake with less political support did not go ahead, De Groot said).
Addressing local concerns
Windpark Fryslân began producing electricity in 2021 — enough wind energy to meet the needs of around 500,000 households, or 1.2 per cent of the entire country's electricity.
That's not to say local concerns were ignored.
Boerkoel said the municipality hired an independent liaison to talk to different local interest groups, share their concerns and negotiate compensation.
The hexagonal shape of the wind farm is actually designed to "disrupt the view as little as possible," the project's website says.
While the wind farm is six kilometres offshore, Boerkoel said the turbines are visible from a coastline on a clear day. At night, you could see red warning lights for aircraft on the 180-metre-tall turbines, required by regulations. But recently, the project installed a radar aircraft detection system so the lights only turn on when aircraft come within a certain distance.
One local concern was that the wind farm profits would leave the region, as it was built largely by investors from elsewhere.
Local residents and the local province did have the opportunity to invest in bonds to fund the project before construction and shares in the project after completion, but De Groot acknowledged not everyone had the money to take advantage.
In the end, the project is also contributing €720,000 (about $1.1 million Cdn) per year for 20 years to an independent regional fund overseen by local residents for projects related to supporting the energy transition, such green retrofits to make sports facilities more energy efficient and a four-day sustainability festival in the city of Stavoren.
De Groot said there are no locally made turbines in the Netherlands, but the project did look for companies in the region that could contribute, and hired a local firm that could weld steel platforms inside the foundation.
"Afterwards they did four or five other wind farms for the same contractor, because they knew how to do it," he said.
Some residents expressed concerns that the wind farm would impact local sailing. De Groot assured them that he could sail between the turbines, which are 600 metres apart, but he said, "some people didn't really believe it." That led a local watersport association to organize an annual sailing race called the Windmill Cup each October.
While Boerkoel is sceptical that the race gives much of a boost for tourism, he doesn't think the wind farm did harm tourism as feared. "It probably doesn't have any effect."
Back in Ontario, proponents of offshore wind say things have changed since 2011, including more research and more technological experience in other parts of the world.
Monica Gattinger is a professor at the University of Ottawa who studies how to strengthen public and investor confidence in energy policy and regulation.
She said what's also changed since the moratorium was imposed is that energy companies now realize that residents want a say in the kinds of projects that come to their local communities, and they need to understand what residents' concerns are.
"There's a greater awareness among regulators, policymakers and industry of the need to do that and do it well," she said. "It really is about that trust-building piece as to whether or not a project will end up in service or end up in court or not be able to go forward."
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