Zone Identified

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.