Search area 6/7 (Sa 67) is a large, government-managed offshore wind energy area in the Dutch North Sea located roughly 94 km off the northwest coast of the Netherlands. On 20 March 2026 the cabinet formally designated it as a windenergiegebied through the adopted Partieel Herziene Programma Noor...
On 20 March 2026 the Dutch cabinet formally adopted the Partieel Herziene Programma Noordzee 2022-2027, designating gebied 6/7 as a windenergiegebied alongside the expansion of Doordewind. The instrument was signed by the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, V.P.G. Karremans, on behalf of the ministers for Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO), Climate and Green Growth (KGG), and Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN). The two new designations together reserve indicatively 21 GW of additional offshore wind capacity. A phased rollout will begin in Doordewind and the western section of gebied 6/7, with indicatively 13 GW of installed capacity in the first phase. Capacity figures are explicitly indicative pending ecological uncertainties and the consentability of individual wind farms; a separate per-area capacity split between gebied 6/7 and Doordewind is not given in the instrument. Within gebied 6/7 an open zone is reserved, preserving langoustine fishing, a shipping clearway, and helicopter access to mining platforms. Ongoing ecological research, in particular on zeekoet (common guillemot), may require the open zone to be adjusted further. The designation followed an ontwerp sent to the Tweede Kamer on 18 April 2025, a six-week public consultation from 13 May 2025, and the toetsingsadvies of the Commissie voor de milieueffectrapportage on 6 November 2025 (project 3806). Cabinet adoption now avoids a minimum two-year delay versus waiting for the next Programma Noordzee 2028-2033 (vaststelling not foreseen before end-2027). Kavelbesluiten under the Wet windenergie op zee remain required before any wind farm can be tendered.
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Zoekgebied 6/7, Programma Noordzee Search Area 6/7, North Sea Programme Search Area 6/7, Search area 6/7, Sa 67
The Dutch Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth is preparing a Partial Revision of the North Sea Programme 2022–2027, expected to be completed by the end of 2025, which will consider the possible designation of a wind farm zone within Search area 6/7 as part of a plan to accommodate 23–26 GW of offshore wind alongside other North Sea uses.
As part of the Partial Revision of the North Sea Programme, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, the Dutch government plans to decide on the possible designation of a specific wind farm zone within Search area 6/7, effectively selecting the precise area within the existing search zone where offshore wind farms may be built.
On 6 November 2025 the Commissie voor de milieueffectrapportage (Commissie m.e.r.) published its final toetsingsadvies on the Plan-MER for the Partiele Herziening Programma Noordzee 2022-2027 (project 3806). The commission concluded that all important environmental information was in scope. The earlier voorlopig toetsingsadvies of 22 July 2025 had asked for supplementary information on sand-mining impacts and shipping safety; the Rijk produced an aanvulling on both topics. The final advice highlighted larger-than-previously-presented sand-mining effects on the ecosystem and called for these to be taken into account in subsequent decision-making. Together with the zienswijzen, this advice fed into the Reactienota and the cabinet-adopted Partieel Herziene Programma Noordzee on 20 March 2026.</description> </invoke> <invoke name="Write"> <parameter name="file_path">C:\Users\richa\Documents\programming\agentzero\scripts\audit\search_area_6_7_region_set.py
A six-week public consultation (zienswijzeprocedure) on the ontwerp Partieel Herziene Programma Noordzee 2022-2027 — including its designation of windenergiegebied 6/7 — opened on 13 May 2025. The English and German translations of the ontwerp plus the relevant Plan-MER information were also sent to neighbouring states under the Espoo Convention to allow international zienswijzen. Submitted views were compiled into the Reactienota and, where relevant, fed into textual revisions of the final instrument. The zienswijzeprocedure ran in parallel with the request for advice from the Commissie voor de milieueffectrapportage that produced the toetsingsadvies of 6 November 2025.
On 18 April 2025 Minister Madlener of Infrastructure and Water Management submitted the ontwerp (draft) Partieel Herziene Programma Noordzee 2022-2027 to the Tweede Kamer. The draft proposed designating gebied 6/7 as a windenergiegebied (alongside extending Doordewind) to reserve indicatively 21 GW of additional offshore wind capacity in pursuit of the cabinet's 50 GW by 2040 ambition. The submission opened the public consultation phase that ran for six weeks from 13 May 2025 and was followed by the Commissie m.e.r. toetsingsadvies on 6 November 2025; the final instrument was formally adopted by cabinet on 20 March 2026 (Kamerstuk 35325, nr. 11).</description> </invoke> <invoke name="mcp__project-health__create_lifecycle_event"> <parameter name="project_name_or_id">69f4c7278465b19bc260281c</parameter> <parameter name="event_type">public_consultation</parameter> <parameter name="event_date">2025-05-13</parameter> <parameter name="date_precision">day</parameter> <parameter name="reported_as_occurred">true</parameter> <parameter name="source_url">https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/kst-35325-11.html</parameter> <parameter name="source_date">2026-03-20</parameter> <parameter name="source_quote">vanaf 13 mei 2025 gedurende 6 weken ter inzage</parameter> <parameter name="description">A six-week public consultation (zienswijzeprocedure) on the ontwerp Partieel Herziene Programma Noordzee 2022-2027 — including its designation of windenergiegebied 6/7 — opened on 13 May 2025. The English and German translations of the ontwerp plus the relevant Plan-MER information were also sent to neighbouring states under the Espoo Convention to allow international zienswijzen. Submitted views were compiled into the Reactienota and, where relevant, fed into textual revisions of the final instrument. The zienswijzeprocedure ran in parallel with the request for advice from the Commissie voor de milieueffectrapportage that produced the toetsingsadvies of 6 November 2025.</parameter> </invoke> <invoke name="Write"> <parameter name="file_path">C:\Users\richa\Documents\programming\agentzero\scripts\audit\search_area_6_7_region_set.py
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