Positive
Project advancing - milestone achieved
High Impact
Major milestone or critical setback
The Netherlands Minister for Climate and Energy, via the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), awarded the permit for Hollandse Kust (west) kavel VI to Ecowende, a consortium of Shell and Eneco, authorising development, construction, operation and decommissioning of the Ecowende offshore wind farm about 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast near IJmuiden. The tender was decided under a comparative scheme weighted heavily on non-price ecological criteria, alongside certainty of realisation, contribution to energy supply, and financial bid. Ecowende won kavel VI with a negative bid of EUR 63.5 million — a payment to the Dutch government in a zero-subsidy auction with no further state financial support — alongside its nature-inclusive design package featuring a turbine bird corridor, raised hub heights, and habitat-creating scour protection.