Mott MacDonald helps complete Gemini wind farm ahead of schedule

The Netherlands’ offshore wind park, Gemini, has been completed ahead of schedule.

The park, which cost 2.8 billion euros, is located in the Dutch North Sea and was overseen by Mott MacDonald which acted as technical advisor and engineer during the two year construction period. The company will continue providing operations monitoring services.

Gemini is comprised of 150 Siemens turbines, each with 4MW capacity – 600MW altogether – which will provide sustainable energy to around 785,000 households. This will make great strides towards helping The Netherlands meet its target of 14 percent renewable energy by 2020, and cut CO2 emissions annually by 1,250,000 tons.

During the project, as lenders’ engineer, Mott MacDonald provided monthly construction monitoring reports to the project’s lenders, advising on progress and mitigating risks associated with health and safety, design, manufacturing, and environment. The consultancy organisation has been working on the project since the beginning, delivering due diligence and helping to achieve a successful financial close.

The Gemini offshore wind park is owned by Northland Power (60 percent), Siemens Financial Services (20 percent), Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors BV (10 percent) and N.V. HVC (10 percent).

Christos Kolliatsas, Mott MacDonald’s Project Director, said: “We worked closely with the Gemini team, sponsors and lenders to reach this major milestone ahead of schedule and under budget. Our international experience in offshore wind construction allowed us to highlight risks that could potentially affect the project’s progress and offer advice on methods for mitigating these.”

Matthias Haag, Project Gemini’s Chief Executive Officer, added: “Working with Mott MacDonald continuously for the last three years has been a big benefit for the Gemini project. Their experience and advice helped us to avoid any pitfalls and make the project a success.”