Global energy majors Shell and Eneco bagged a tender to develop a 760 MW offshore wind farm at Hollandse Kust (west) lot VI, in the Netherlands.

The cost of the project and other details have not been disclosed by the companies.

Shell said that the wind farm would produce ample renewable energy, which will help decarbonize around 3% of the Dutch power sector while addressing the demand.

Shell and Eneco will build the new wind farm through a joint venture (JV) called Ecowende. The project site is approximately 53 km off the Dutch coast from IJumiden, a port city of North Holland.

The farm is scheduled to be operational in 2026.

The joint venture is said to be taking nature-centric measures in building the wind farm to conserve the wild habitat in the region. The wind turbines to be installed will be placed at a certain height, creating a corridor for the birds to fly.

Further, it will use innovative techniques for laying the foundation of the wind equipment to nullify the impact of the construction on marine life. The JV will also deploy natural reef structures on the ocean bed to boost biodiversity.

Director of Integrated Gas, Renewables, and Energy Solutions at Shell, Wael Sawan, said, “With Ecowende, we will take a huge step in growing our offshore wind portfolio while making a positive contribution to biodiversity. Through this project, we can profitably accelerate the large-scale roll-out of offshore wind in the Netherlands and beyond. This fits well with Shell’s Powering Progress strategy to deliver more and cleaner energy to our customers, at home, on the road, and at work.”

Chief Strategic Growth Officer at Eneco, Kees-Jan Rameau, said, “It is great that we are now moving into a new phase with Ecowende, with nature as the starting point. This is entirely in line with our ambition to live and act within the natural limits of the planet.”

Recently, Shell acquired sustainable assets manager Green Tie Capital’s ten solar projects spread across Spain and are under development. The projects have a potential generation capacity of 2 GW.

In February last year, Shell and Eneco formed a consortium, The Crosswind, to operate the Amazon-Shell HKN Offshore Wind Project, which is aimed at helping Amazon power more of its businesses with renewable energy. Once operational, Amazon will offtake 250 MW from Shell and 130 MW from Eneco, for a total of 380 MW.