Bitter sweet inauguration at 10 MW Distridam project
Netherlands' fourth largest utility, DELTA, took the opportunity of the official opening of its 10 MW Distridam wind farm to decry the Dutch government's decision to axe the national renewable energy law (page 44). DELTA's Jaap Nelemans accused the government of being untrustworthy. The utility had a number of wind projects in its development pipeline dependent on receiving the kilowatt hour production subsidy available under the Milieukwaliteit ElektriciteitsProductie (MEP), which was stopped in August. The government said enough MEP subsidies had been granted to reach the Dutch target for wind. Interest in further wind power investment has plummeted, said Nelemans. The Distridam plant of five Vestas 2 MW turbines has been operational since January but was only recently inaugurated. It is operated by Windpark Distridam VOF, a partnership set up by DELTA Energy and Distriwind, a company owned by Energy Investments Holding. It is slated to generate 31,600 MWh a year, enough to meet the needs of about 8000 households. All the power is bought by DELTA. The utility is involved in more than 30 wind projects, large and small, mainly in its home province of Zeeland. It also operates one 9 MW project in Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to bring its total wind interests to about 130 MW.