Planning Consent Awarded

On 24 March 2016 the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs H.G.J. Kamp signed Kavelbesluit III for the Borssele wind energy area at 's-Gravenhage, establishing the spatial site permit under the Offshore Wind Energy Act (Wet windenergie op zee) that designated the kavel and set the conditions for the wind farm subsequently built as Borssele III by the Blauwwind consortium. A parallel Kavelbesluit IV for the adjacent kavel was signed the same day. Both decisions were published in the Staatscourant of 8 April 2016 (stcrt-2016-14523 for kavel III and stcrt-2016-14545 for kavel IV) and entered into force the day after publication. The kavelbesluit functions as the planning consent in the Dutch offshore-wind regulatory model — issued before the tender so that bidders compete for the right to develop a pre-consented site. The decision incorporates the Environmental Impact Assessment (Milieueffectrapportage / MER), sets ecological mitigation requirements (underwater noise limits, bat and bird collision avoidance, monitoring obligations), spatial constraints, safety-zone provisions and post-decommissioning financial-security requirements. It also defines the size envelope of the wind park (maximum installed capacity, turbine band, footprint). The right to use the consented site was subsequently awarded to the Blauwwind II consortium via the SDE+ tender concluded on 12 December 2016. The kavelbesluit is therefore the regulatory foundation that made Blauwwind's 731.5 MW project legally possible.