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Pondera Consult and Arcadis consortium were given the go-ahead to prepare EIA and permit application for the first Dutch offshore grid connection.

Pondera Consult, together with Arcadis, has been asked by TenneT (TSO) to support the entire EIA process for the offshore grid connection of offshore wind farms located in the wind development area “Borssele”.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs decided in 2014 that wind development area “Borssele” would be the first area to be developed with TenneT being responsible for the grid connection of offshore wind farms in the Dutch sector of the North Sea.

The EIA scope will cover two offshore substations, four 220kV export cables and the onshore grid connection. The preparation and submission of the required documents, such as the EIA, supporting documents and the permit application, will contribute towards the final decision making process. Additionally, Pondera Consult and Arcadis will provide strategic advice on the permitting process and stakeholder management services.

“A clever solution to connect a complete cluster of wind farms to the electricity grid is important for the Netherlands in order to bring down the costs of this renewable energy source”, according to Hans Rijntalder, Director of Pondera Consult, a part of Wind Minds. “We expect that our combined experience and knowledge of environmental regulations regarding offshore EIA’s will be of added value to TenneT in this process.”