– Ventolines employees tell their stories as the construction of Windplan Groen nears end

Big, complex and a lot: these are just some of the words that come to mind for Remco Boersma, Director Contracting and Construction, when he thinks about Windplan Groen. The plan includes 11 wind farms with a total of 86 wind turbines. To be built in just two years. That’s a challenge! But nothing Ventolines shies away from.

Windplan Groen is expected to be completed in the spring of 2024 – according to a tightly managed construction phase. Ventolines is responsible for the contracting of nine of the wind farms and the construction of five of the Wind Plan Groen wind farms.

To give an impression of the size and complexity of the project, we recorded a video during construction. Curious how our employees reacted when they first heard about Windplan Groen? What challenges they faced or what surprised them the most about this project? Then watch the video below:

Many stakeholders and local residents
Windplan Groen includes eleven wind farms, each with its own board. Groups of entrepreneurs and groups of citizens, who all work together in different ways and therefore all have their own dynamics.

Stakeholder management was a major theme within the project. Not just because of the number and diversity of the boards. The plan covers a very large area and includes several villages what means many local residents are directly or indirectly involved. Add to that the number of landowners: from farmers to the municipality and the water board, and the total number of stakeholders is large.

To keep them informed of the most recent and upcoming developments, Ventolines organized several open days. All were well attended.
Furthermore, we appointed a landowner liaison officer and, in addition, there is an information bulletin on which landowners and farmers could read about the activities that would take place. An important part, as farming life also went on. More than once, sowing and harvesting took place next to the turbines under construction.

Several wind turbine manufacturers: Vestas & GE
But the complexity and challenges within Windplan Groen were not just the (plan) size or relatively short construction time. For instance, It involved working with two different wind turbine manufacturers: Vestas and General Electric (GE) and as many as three different turbines. Unique!

Always positive
But those who thinks that this means we are there in terms of challenges are mistaken. Think of weather conditions, time planning, working with many different contractors and the impact of the war in Ukraine on the transport chain worldwide: the challenges went on and on.

“Just keep going”, “Putting shoulders to the wheel”, “You can get things done as long as you have the right people in the right place”, these are just some of our employees’ reactions to the challenges within this project. But the greater the challenge, the prouder the feeling.

Moving forward with sustainable energy
With each turbine that grew higher towards the clouds, that feeling became stronger. With the construction of Windplan Groen, Ventolines made another major contribution to the energy transition. We moved another step forward with renewable energy. And that is what we do it for. “Making the world a bit nicer and greener”, says Project Delivery Manager Kay Woesthuis.

Also responsible for Asset Management
Even after the project’s final delivery in spring 2024, Ventolines will remain involved in Windplan Groen. For eight of the 11 wind farms, Ventolines will be responsible for asset management in the coming years.