This New Massive Offshore Wind Farm in the Netherlands Can Power 785,000 Homes

The Netherlands has recently open one of the largest offshore wind farm in a region of the North Sea that has some of the highest and consistent wind speeds in the world.

The wind farm, dubbed as the Gemini Offshore Wind Park, boasts 150 turbines located 85 kilometers north of the Groningen coast. Capable of producing 2.6 TWh of sustainable energy every year, The Gemini Offshore Wind Park could help in reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of the Netherlands by 1.25 million tons.

"We successfully completed Gemini ahead of schedule, under budget and with an excellent safety record," said Matthais Haag, Managing Director of the Gemini Offshore Wind Park, in a press release. "We are proud to make this contribution to the realization of the Netherlands' sustainability targets."

The Gemini Offshore Wind Farm covers an area of 68 square kilometers and is located in an area in the North Sea that has an average of wind speed of 36 kilometers per hour. Each of the Siemens wind turbines has the capacity of 4.0 MW. Additionally, the Netherlands' new wind farm also has two offshore high-voltage substations connected to the land station in Eemshaven by a 110-kilometer export cable.

The Gemini Offshore Wind Farm is expected to meet the energy needs of 1.5 million citizens of the Netherlands over the next 15 years. The Netherlands aims to generate 14 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

At present, the Gemini Offshore Wind Farm could provide 13 percent of the country's energy need. By 2023, the Netherlands plans to reach 16 percent renewable energy and become carbon neutral by 2050.

The construction of the Gemini Offshore Wind Park costs approximately $3 billion. The Netherlands' wind farm project was financed by 25 banks from Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. It was made possible through the joint efforts of wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Wind Power, waste processing company HVC, renewable energy company Northland Power and Dutch maritime contractor Van Oord.

During Gemini's grand opening event, officials of the wind park unveiled a free, downloadable app that continuously track Gemini's offshore wind speed, the amount of energy produced, and the total carbon dioxide reduction.