Princess Amalia (Q7) Offshore Windfarm, the Netherlands

Generating approximately 435 GwH of electricity yearly the Princess Amalia Windfarm will reduce the Netherlands’ dependency on importing fuels, avoiding 225,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
Unique as the world’s first project financed offshore windfarm, Princess Amalia (formerly known as Q7) is also the deepest at 19-24m and the furthest from shore, located 23km off of Ijmuiden, Holland. The depth and distance were chosen to minimise impact on migrating birds as well as to help keep the wind farm invisible from the Dutch coast.
Mott MacDonald’s appointment on the project started in 2005 during the pre-financial stage of the project as Lender's Engineer for Rabobank, Dexia, and EKF. Following successful financing of the project, we were re-appointed to monitor the construction phase.
This project posed major technical challenges being the furthest offshore and in the deepest water. Together with our colleagues from James Ingram & Associates, we played a significant role in seeking appropriate solutions. Our role has given us the opportunity to demonstrate our unique combination of marine, wind and project finance expertise.
The wind park has an overall capacity of 120MW and comprises 60 Vestas V80 2MW wind turbines. The diameter of the rotor is 80m, which weighs 37 tons.
Operational since June 2008, the Princess Amalia Windfarm will supply the energy sufficient for 125,000 Dutch homes in one year. It has set precedence for future green offshore projects, contributing to sustainability in the future.

Q7, THE WORLD'S FIRST PROJECT FINANCED OFFSHORE WIND FARM, EXPORTS ELECTRICITY TO THE DUTCH GRID

ON 21 DECEMBER 2007, Q7, A 120 MW OFFSHORE WIND FARM WITH A CONSTRUCTION BUDGET OF €383 MILLION, EXPORTED FIRST POWER TO THE DUTCH GRID, WHICH WAS A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONE FOR THE OFFSHORE WIND INDUSTRY. Q7 WAS THE
FIRST OFFSHORE WIND FARM TO BE FINANCED BY A NONRECOURSE LOAN (PROJECT
FINANCE) AND OPENED THIS TYPE OF FINANCING TO OTHER OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS.

Mott MacDonald was appointed as Lender's Technical Advisor during the pre-financial close stage of the project, which comprises of 60 2 MW V80 Vestas machines and features monopile foundation to a depth of between 18-23 meters at a distance of about 23 km off the Dutch coast.

During that stage, Mott MacDonald provided advice and support to the syndication banks (Rabobank, Dexia, and EKF), which was more substantial than onshore wind farms due to the pioneering nature of the project. Mott MacDonald drew from its extensive skills and expertise in
oil & gas, marine and onshore wind engineering as well as its extensive project finance expertise which enabled Mott MacDonald to understand the specific challenges that a tightly financed offshore project would bring. Financial close was achieved in October 2006 and Mott MacDonald was re-appointed to monitor the construction phase.

Q7 has posed major technical challenges being the furthest from shore, in the deepest water and with the deepest cable burials. Significant effort was needed to find appropriate solutions with the project team that has resulted in more efficient and safer operations.

Q7 is being constructed under two contracts: one for turbines with Vestas and one for foundations and cables with Van Oord. The project started well with all foundations being installed ahead of schedule, however major challenges arose with the cable and turbine installations. While South North Sea is more benign, some adverse weather conditions were encountered, which pushed the initially proposed equipment to their operational limits. In turn, in order to ensure safe operations the operational envelops were reduced which lead to the installations progress being much slower than planned.

With safety as the main priority, a way forward was found that ultimately involved the substitution of both the cable and turbine installation vessels. The cable vessel substitution brought immediate results with the remaining cables being installed substantially faster than with the original vessel. Unfortunately, the results were not felt immediately with the turbine installation vessel as it was affected by a well-documented crane incident in July 2007. Nevertheless, following repairs, the speed achieved with the turbine installations has improved.

Regardless of the crane incident and worse than expected weather, construction of the wind farm is still on target for an early completion. All foundations and cables, and more than 75% of the turbines have been installed with 25% of the wind farm currently producing electricity. Availability of the turbines has been a lot higher than expected with only minor teething issues. Early operational experience is encouraging for the future.

Record oil prices turn investors to wind power.

Five French wind farm projects, totalling 77MW capacity came online in February 2008. Project France phase-2 was a €115 million project constructing a total of 42 turbines. This challenge was undertaken as a joint venture by EOLE-RES S.A, a French wind park developer, and Renewable Energy Systems of the UK.

Mott MacDonald Ltd, a well renowned Global engineering consultancy, was appointed as Lenders and Owners Engineer for the project, which spanned three regions of France. In charge of due diligence as well as Owners’ engineer work for the project, Mott MacDonald was also present throughout the construction phase. Ron Donnelly of Mott MacDonald explained the increase in wind farm developments recently was “due to high oil prices there is more motivation for people to try to meet the low carbon agenda…investments in wind farms are becoming much more popular.”

The project consisted of five sites. In Houndelaincourt and Bonnet Sud, both situated in Lorraine, a total of 18 Vestas 2MW turbines were erected by October 2007. In the same month, 9 more turbines were complete, this time in Murat, Midi-Pyrénées, where Siemens 1.3MW were used instead of the Vestas turbines.

The final sites were situated in Montbéliard and Lomont, part of Franche-Comté, which saw another 15 Vestas 2MW erected. These farms were the last stages of the project and the final take over certificate was issued by 14 February 2008, allowing the turbines to come online. Nigel Deane, from Mott MacDonald, carried out construction inspections for the project. He said: “As the Owners’ engineer for these wind farms it was a challenging job, involving a large amount of site work. However, to be involved in such a highly technical project was thoroughly enjoyable and a valuable experience.”