Local authorities in the Province of North Holland, the Netherlands have approved Infinergy’s plans for three wind turbines at Tata Steel’s IJmuiden plant just north of Amsterdam.
The turbines will have an installed capacity of 2 or 3 megawatts, with an overall tip height of 125 metres and a hub height of 80 metres.
Infinergy’s CEO Esbjorn Wilmar said: “We are delighted with this result, our first planning permission since the management buy-out. This consent marks the continuation of our activities in the Netherlands where we have successfully developed and constructed a number of other wind farms at industrial sites. Tata Steel have been very involved in this project and we look forward to continuing our constructive partnership with them through to operation.”
Last year Infinergy won Tata Steel’s tender for the development of a wind farm at their IJmuiden steel plant. Mr Wilmar continued: “We worked very closely with Tata Steel to ensure the wind turbines will not interfere with their core business, which includes all processes and safety regulations that are associated with producing steel. Our experience at other heavy industry sites has been instrumental. A good example is our Wear Point Wind Farm at SemLogistics’ oil storage terminal and next to the Dragon LNG liquified gas plant in Milford Haven, which has been operating safely and without incident throughout construction and operation.”
The newly-consented wind farm project plays an important part in Tata Steel’s strategy of working more sustainably, which includes the development of renewable energy sources on their sites. Director Engineering and Site Services Annemarie Manger said: “This consent is a big step forward in the realisation of Tata Steel’s sustainability targets. We look forward to the next development stages and we hope the wind turbines will be fully operational by the autumn of 2018.”