On March 28, 2024, Windplan Groen was commissioned: the largest wind project on land in the Netherlands. Ventolines worked very hard for 9 years to generate maximum value for everyone and they succeeded. Windplan Groen has a power output we could not have dreamed of. Wondering what we learned from this project? Our colleagues Ardaan, Daniël and Roald sit down to share their experiences.

Executive summary

• Windplan Groen consists of 11 wind farms in the Flevopolder region in the Netherlands.
• It is owned by 420 farmers and local residents. That’s 85% of the residents of the outlying areas in the region.
• Ventolines was heavily involved in the development, contracting, construction management and safety coordination of the project.
• Of the 11 parks, 8 share a grid connection directly to TenneT’s high-voltage grid via a closed distribution system (GDS).
• Closed Distribution System Groen was developed by Ventolines. We were also part of the construction management team.
• Windplan Groen has become an example of farmers and citizens contributing to and benefiting from the energy transition in solidarity.
• The 86 turbines generate approximately 1.8 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of sustainable electricity annually.
• This is 5% of the 35 terawatt hours that the Netherlands wants to generate annually by 2030.

What is Windplan Groen

Windplan Groen is the largest onshore wind project in the Netherlands. It consists of 11 wind farms in Flevoland. Some of these locations already had (smaller) wind turbines. The Municipality of Dronten and the Province of Flevoland wanted to bring these wind farms more in line with each other and make power production more efficient and increase it, thus Windplan Groen was born. It was completed on March 28, 2024, with the exception of one park. Together, the 86 wind turbines account for about 1.8 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity annually. That is more than 5% of the 35 terawatt hours of renewable electricity the Dutch government wants to generate on land annually by 2030. One terawatt hour is one billion kilowatt hours.

Three specialists in discussion

What made this wind project so different from all of our other renewable energy projects? We let three specialists tell you about it: Daniël Hamstra, Safety Coordinator and Asset Manager; Roald van Engelenburg, Senior Contract and Project Manager and Ardaan Walvis, Developer and Project Manager. They were heavily involved in the project.

Forging trust

Daniel, Roald and Ardaan discuss what it takes to guide a project of this caliber to a positive outcome. They talk about how to forge trust with owners, government agencies and contractors. How to keep the budget on track despite major unexpected events such as corona and the war in Ukraine and how to keep hundreds of workers from numerous contractors safe while working with up to 80-meter-long turbine sections, at a height of 165 meters.

From left to right: Daniël Hamstra (Safety), Roald van Engelenburg (Construction), Ardaan Walvis (Development)

Special clients

Ardaan: “I think it’s great to see how many people are involved in this project as initiators: 420 farmers and local residents. That is 85% of the residents of the outlying area in the region. They pushed it over the line together. I really liked that, to be able to do this for such a diverse group of people.

Development, contracting, safety and construction management

Daniel: ‘What I am very proud of is that we as Ventolines are so intensively involved in this project; the largest wind project on land in the Netherlands. Ventolines did the development – all the permit applications and the siting plan, plus the years of consultation with clients and governments that this required.  We then assisted 9 of the 11 wind farms with contracting. For 5 parks, we managed the construction. Ventolines also had the role of Health and Safety Coordinator during the construction of these 5 farms. With that, we had great influence on the safe realization of Windplan Groen. Now we are also running asset management for 5 parks.’

Value for the region

Roald: ‘Moreover, we managed to keep the ownership of the wind farms with the original initiators. Often a wind farm is sold to one of the big energy companies. Here the owners themselves have reached the finish line, so the project continues to add value to the owners and the region.’

Owners living next to the turbine

Daniel: ‘Every day I notice how involved the farmers still are. I am closely involved in the daily operations of the wind farms because I am now responsible for the asset management of some of the wind farms so I do get messages every day from farmers who live next to the wind turbines. ‘The turbine is standing still, why is that? Oh, now it’s spinning again! There’s someone at the site, who is that?’ This way we often receive valuable information from the field.’

Golden rule: the common interest comes first

Ardaan: ‘What I like is that we succeeded in putting the common interest first. We first went through an intensive process with the 11 wind farms to see: what do we want to achieve? We made agreements with each other on principles. For each choice we looked at: what is optimal? How do we ensure that we achieve as much as possible?

‘Best for project’

Daniel: ‘Best for project’  became a standard term, didn’t it? In the interest of the whole project and not the individual or one party.’

“There were restrictions under the approach route to Lelystad Airport. We have the legal and technical experience to know that more is possible after all.”

– Ardaan Walvis, Developer and Project Manager at Ventolines

Aviation restrictions

Ardaan: “We paid a lot of attention to a fair distribution for all parties. In addition, we wanted to make the pie as big as possible for everyone – ‘best for project’ in other words. An example is the dossier on aviation restrictions. I myself put a lot of time into that.’

Well worth our money

Ardaan: ‘There were restrictions on the height of the turbines on the approach route to Lelystad Airport. The initiators could have complied with the restrictions imposed by the aviation authority but we have the legal and technical experience to know that more is often possible. We said to the owners: we are going to be well worth our value by diving into this in detail and finding solutions.’

Ardaan: ‘We scrutinized the restrictions in close cooperation with the Inspectorate for the Environment and Transport (ILT), which supervises aviation in the Netherlands, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the other wind projects in the Flevopolder. This allowed us to reduce the restrictions to their needs: what space was really needed to guarantee the safety of air traffic. As a result, we were able to place much larger wind turbines than originally envisioned, while still guaranteeing safety.

Honest and open

Ardaan: ‘There were plenty of parties who were not affected at all by those aviation restrictions, because their wind farm fell outside the boundaries of Lelystad Airport. And yet they also ultimately commissioned and helped pay for those extra efforts. That is only possible if you are very honest: yes, it is now specifically about a part of the project and this does not affect everyone equally, but it is ‘best for project’ therefore it maximizes the opportunities for the whole.’

Consultation also open and in joint collaboration

Ardaan: “With such issues, we presented different scenarios over and over again. We were open about all possible outcomes and we were honest when they could not yet be predicted. We didn’t do that with each party separately, but always together. That is intensive, but you also get a lot of trust in return.

Construction specialists involved as early as the development phase

Ardaan: ‘I think it is also incredibly valuable that we were able to involve specialists who are very experienced in contracting and construction as early as the permit application stage. That’s the advantage of having all services in-house from A to Z. For example, if drawings were required, we could discuss in detail: where best to place the roads, how much space is needed for the construction work, how to lay the cables.’

Ardaan: ‘Also towards the client, it is nice if you can back up your advice with knowledge from people who have supervised the contracting and construction of a wind farm before. So that you can say to a landowner: what you want you can indeed put in the application now, but then you’ll have a big issue in 3 years, when contracting – or in 4 years during construction because it can’t be done in practice.’

One grid connection, thanks to a closed distribution system

Ardaan: ‘The added value of all those specialties also became clear when it turned out that 8 wind farms had to share a single connection to the high-voltage grid. We therefore developed a closed distribution system (GDS) for Windplan Groen. There were a huge number of electrical engineering challenges but also regulatory aspects to this that had to be worked out at an early stage. We succeeded because we have such a wide range of expertise.’

Different standards and values

Daniel: “I found it very interesting to manage so many different parties. We had all kinds of nationalities on site, many different contractors, all with their own standards and values which includes very basic things like: how do we communicate with each other? What do we consider to be normal on a construction site? Those standards varied widely.

800,000 working hours

Daniel: “During the construction phase we counted a total of 800,000 working hours. And yet we managed to make sure everyone got home safely. Accidents were limited to a cut on a finger, a small bruise, things like that. ‘We didn’t have any incidents of permanent injury because of our active involvement and commitment to the contractors.’

Big, bigger, biggest

Roald: ‘Yes, and small accidents can have large consequences. You work a lot at height. When you consider the kind of equipment we’re working with – you can see it on the video; everything is big, bigger, biggest.’

Handover between contractors

Daniël: ‘If you want to do such a big project without accidents, you need at least very good preparation. That starts with a schedule that is realistic. This prevents people from getting in each other’s way. What is typical behavior for contractors is that they focus on their own part. Follow-up from contractor to contractor, or letting them use the same building site at the same time, is therefore the big challenge for the Health and Safety Coordinator in the execution phase. All parties working at the construction site must be given exactly the right information.

“We provide leadership in a facilitating way. As a result, contractors think along with us about the best solutions.That’s how the client gets the most value out of the contract.”
– Daniël Hamstra, safety coordinator and asset manager at Ventolines

Building safety into contracts

Roald: Yes, you say preparation, but safety starts even one step earlier. In the contracting phase, before you conclude the contracts, it is important to make the right agreements, so that you get all your expectations, also about safety, on paper. Then you can refer to it later, in such a way that you don’t have to enforce it. It works better if you do it together. If we came across a situation where there were conflicting interests, we brought everyone together in a transparent way.’

We believe in facilitation

Daniël: ‘And not by pointing the contractor to the contract and saying: contractor A, this is your scope and you still have to realize this with contractor B.’ No, we invited both contractors to talk to us and each other. We find it important to lead in a facilitating way. As a result, we work together in a pleasant way and contractors think along with us about the best solutions. That’s how the customer gets the most value out of the contract.’

Creative ideas – sunscreen and French fries

Roald: ‘We do think it is important to mention what is going well. Sometimes in creative ways. When we had worked another 100,000 hours without incidents, we had a food truck come. In the first year we handed out bottles of sun block at the beginning of summer. Safety is also about simple things like putting on proper sunscreen. Such a moment is an opportunity to start the conversation with people in the workplace. To create a culture with each other, a pleasant working atmosphere of which safety is a part.

Unexpected events like corona and war

Roald: ‘In a large project, you often have to deal with conflicting interests and unforeseen circumstances. We saw that here too, especially after corona and the start of the war in Ukraine. That had an effect on prices, availability, you name it. Our years of experience with every phase of renewable energy projects gives us the freedom to think in creative solutions.’

Win-win solutions

Roald: ‘In such a situation, we look at: what can we do together to avoid extra costs or delays? Can we find smart ways to generate more revenue? In this way we arrive at a solution that works for both parties. Instead of fighting over legality, we jointly look for win-win solutions for everyone.

“It helps that we’ve done challenging projects before. You have that proven track record in your back pocket.”

– Roald van Engelenburg, Senior Contract and Project Manager at Ventolines

What it takes for such a win-win deal

Roald: “In such discussions with the major suppliers and contractors, it helped that we worked with very experienced specialists in the implementation phase. Ardaan collaborated on the development, but he also supervised one of the parks during construction. I myself started in the contracting phase and then also continued with construction management.’

Roald: “We always record all agreements well, so we have our contracts and files in very good order. Iniators can therefore trust that we know what we are talking about. That’s why we manage to get a win-win deal out of it.’

Proven track record in the back pocket

Roald: ‘It helps that we have done challenging projects before, such as Windpark Fryslân, Windpark Drentse Monden Oostermoer. And Windpark Westermeerwind – the first wind farm in the IJsselmeer. Nobody thought it possible that that project would come to fruition. You have that proven track record in your back pocket.’

Production numbers we did not dare to dream of

Daniël: ‘As an Asset Manager, I am now involved in the daily operations of 5 of Windplan Groen’s 11 wind farms. I therefore experience the results of the project on a daily basis. When I see how much electricity Windplan Groen produces and how much CO₂ it saves, we wouldn’t have dared to dream about that nine years ago. Windplan Groen is making a huge contribution to green energy in the Netherlands.

Contributing to the energy transition

Ardaan: ‘I studied renewable energy technology because I really want to contribute to the energy transition. That’s why I started working at Ventolines. So it’s wonderful if you can then immediately contribute to the largest Dutch wind farm on land.’

Meet Ventolines

Also taking big steps in the energy transition? Get in touch with us. Mail our experts or call Ventolines’ central number. A short video meeting to exchange views with Ardaan, Daniël or Roald? Just email and we’ll schedule something.

Also taking big steps in the energy transition? Get in touch with us. Mail our experts or call Ventolines’ central number. A short video meeting to exchange views with Ardaan, Daniël or Roald? Just email and we’ll schedule something.

Ventolines has the in-house expertise to manage all aspects of your sustainable energy project. From feasibility study to construction, and from contracting to asset management. Ventolines can guide owners through all project stages from A to Z. For the project on this page it mainly concerned: