Pondera has been awarded a prestigious project which extensively studies onshore wind in Indonesia. Titled “Wind Energy Development in Indonesia: Investment Plan”, this project is initiated and managed by the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership (ETP), hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). We are delighted to start this 1,5-year…
Building good relationships with customers and colleagues is always a real pleasure. Pondera has had the honour of carrying out more than 25 projects both for and with Enexis, which we are very proud of. The energy transition requires major expansions of the electricity grid which need to be implemented in the coming years. In…
What makes a wind measurement campaign a good one? An interesting question that I got asked by a colleague recently, and one that I’d never really thought about. The easiest answer would be to just follow the norm. Or the guidelines. Or the certification body’s specific demands. Or the applicable road map (in which ever…
Wind farn Hartel III – source: M&M Pondera and Rebel will enter a cooperation with development company M&M Renewables from Rostock (Germany) to revive a wind project in the port of Rotterdam, named Hartel III. The project site Hartel III used to house several wind turbines that were decommissioned at the end of their lifetimes…
Whiffle started as an idea developed at TU Delft in 2016. Simply put, Whiffle is a meteorological data company that can precisely model weather on a very small scale using their self-developed model GRASP. Pondera’s Kyra de Haan and Mark Rijntalder talked to Bob Meijer and Adriaan Derksen about their latest innovation.
Together with relations and colleagues we celebrated the opening of Windpark Strekdammen on August 31st. A project that has been realized by Pondera and Rebel in the Eemshaven estuary and consists of the installation of two nearshore GE Cypress 5.5 MW wind turbines. Windturbine supplier: GE Renewable Energy: Foundation supplier: KWS Infra Electrical work supplier: Alsema…
The energy transition is inevitable, and many people want clean energy. However, local residents may be concerned if a wind turbine is placed in proximity of their homes. Noise and shadow flickering may cause stress and annoyance for some. Prof. Dr. Gundula Hübner researches the social acceptance of renewable energy sources. ‘Everyone experiences the energy…
The completion of Wind Farm Strekdammen is getting closer! In part 3 of our vlog series, reporter Anne de Boer shows us on site how the construction of the two turbines is progressing. Colleague Björn Konink explains more about the background of this project. He outlines what happened prior to the construction of the two…
In Arnhem, on May 9th, Hans Rijntalder, chairman of Pondera and H.E. Saeed Sultan Al Suwaidi, chairman of SEWA (Sharjah Electricity, Water & Gas Authority) signed an MOU for a long-term cooperation for the development of wind- and solar parks in Sharjah. SEWA is the state-owned company of the emirate of Sharjah. The Memorandum of…
Pertamina NRE and Pondera Development BV (Pondera) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the development of wind power plants in Indonesia on Thursday 21 April 2022. Through the MoU, both parties agreed to focus on a collaboration in developing wind farms in several regions. The collaboration encompasses strategic, technical, as well as commercial cooperation.…
Pondera has entered into a license agreement with Whiffle to use Whiffle’s innovative model called GRASP (GPU-resident Atmospheric Simulation Platform). With Whiffle’s GRASP model, Pondera puts itself on the forefront of wind resource modelling. Whiffle’s unique technology involves Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for running the weather simulations and allows users of the model to perform…
Obstruction lighting for wind turbines higher than 150 metres, which is often seen as a nuisance, may now be switched off at night more often. Using a detection system, the warning lights will then only be activated when an aircraft approaches a wind farm. The first detection systems have been tested and meet the requirements…
In this second part of our vlog series, Pondera’s reporter Joost visits the Eemshaven estuary. Project manager Jorden shows us around the site where Windpark Strekdammen is being constructed. On this particular day, the 30 meter long piles will be delivered. The pile drivers will then drive them into the ground to form a solid…
At the end of November 2021, Wind farm Bovenwind achieved a financial close and the final notice to proceed was issued to wind turbine manufacturer ENERCON and contractor Van den Heuvel. Partly through the efforts of cooperative Wij Duurzaam Staphorst (WDS) and the water board WDO Delta, and the pleasant cooperation with the ASN Bank,…
The construction of the Strekdammen wind farm is progressing well. Pondera and Rebel are working to deliver two wind turbines in the Eemshaven estuary with a total capacity of 11 MW. The American firm GE is delivering turbines made especially for these brackish conditions. Contractors VolkerWind and Alsema are responsible for the construction. The turbines are…
In late October 2021, the Rijn & IJssel Regional Water Authority signed the delivery and maintenance contracts for two Enercon E-138 EP3 E2 wind turbines. These wind turbines, with a joint installed capacity of 8.4 MW, are due to be installed on the site of the sewage treatment plant on the InnoFase industrial estate in…
In order to assess the performance of existing wind farms, specifically whether a wind farm is achieving its intended energy yield, Pondera has developed a method for preparing what is commonly known in the market as a Post-Construction Assessment. By using this method, Pondera is able to analyse SCADA data from the wind farm (an…
Tom Herfs has been working at Pondera since June 2021. Within the team Environment and Spatial Planning, Tom is a junior advisor on renewable energy and is involved in, among other things, feasibility studies and GIS analyses. Tom has a special affinity with the social aspects of renewable energy projects. In 2020 he obtained a…
Fortunately it is a rare occurrence, but wind turbines can fail in such ways that they pose a risk to the safety of the surrounding area. Imagine the damage caused by a (part of a) rotor blade breaking off, the tower collapsing or the nacelle falling down. Although incidents almost never occur, research into the…
At the end of June 2021, the cooperative Wij Duurzaam Staphorst signed the supply contract for three Enercon E-138 EP3 E3 wind turbines for wind farm Bovenwind – the first wind turbines of this type to be built worldwide. Pondera supervised the tendering process on behalf of the cooperative and successfully completed the contract negotiations…
The fact that our blog on wind turbine noise and health from 2018 is still being read to this day and is the most read blog on our website leads us to conclude that the issue of health effects is relevant. It indicates that the subject is still topical and is of concern to many…
On 28 May 2021, the construction of Windplan Groen officially started. The first activities were the decommissioning of several existing wind turbines in the area and the construction of the high-voltage substation on the Olsterpad. All wind turbines are expected to be online in 2022. Windplan Groen is an initiative in the southeast of Flevoland,…
Five enthusiastic students from the Bachelor’s program in Natural Science and Innovation Management at Utrecht University, in collaboration with Pondera, have attempted to answer the question of which energy storage techniques can offer opportunities for Dutch wind projects. Energy storage is a hot topic these days and is widely regarded as one of the pillars…
Positive advice from the EIA Committee and a good example for other municipalities and regions The municipality of Enschede wants to produce at least 8% additional sustainable energy by 2030. How that goal will be achieved is described in the Energy Vision. On behalf of the municipality, Pondera has drawn up an Environmental Impact Assessment…
‘Need to know’ for wind farm procedure choice On 1 January, 2022, the Environmental and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) will come into force according to the official schedule, although according to news in recent days, it seems to be heading for another postponement… However, as long as that postponement has not yet been formally announced, we…
At the end of 2020, Shell acquired all the project rights of Energiepark Pottendijk from project developer Deddens. Pondera played an active role in making this acquisition possible. This agreement brings the construction and delivery of the energy park a huge step closer. For Pondera, the project has a long history. To facilitate the sale…
To formalise the cooperation between Pondera and Eneco and to make it run more smoothly, Pondera has again concluded a framework agreement at the initiative of Eneco. Pondera and Eneco have been working together successfully for several years on various projects, such as Windpark Maasvlakte 2, Windpark Oranjepolder in Oosterhout and Windpark Nieuwe Waterweg. The…
At the end of 2020, Pondera and Rebel completed the financing for the Strekdammen Windpark (WPS) with ABN AMRO. Pondera and Rebel are planning to build two GE wind turbines with a total capacity of 11 MW in the estuary of Eemshaven. With the financial close completed, Pondera and Rebel, in collaboration with various stakeholders,…
In recent weeks, the regional newspapers have paid attention in two weekend editions to some important pillars of the climate agreement: wind and solar energy. In the Energy of the Future series, readers were informed in short and actually quite bluntly about the consequences for nature and the landscape and the nuisance for the environment.…
For the Sharjah Electricity, Water & Gas Authority, the state-owned utility of the emirate Sharjah in the Gulf, Pondera will conduct a 3 year high-tech meteorological measurement campaign. The measurement campaign will be conducted with a small network of meteorological stations, amongst others sampling wind speed and direction, solar radiation and extensive dust measurements. The…
I would like to invite you to read my blog. The reason for this blog is the publication of a series of articles in the media entitled: Energy of the future. In a nutshell, readers are informed about the consequences for nature and the landscape and the nuisance for the environment due to the arrival…
In the summer of 2020, Pondera was commissioned to perform a short wind measurement campaign to determine the effect of the existing wind farm Eemshaven on the wind speed. Earlier this year, Pondera Development purchased the right to build 2 wind turbines at the Dutch coastal project called Strekdammen, just to the north of Eemshaven.…
The EIA Commission has issued a positive assessment advice for the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Wind Park Maasvlakte 2. The Commission believes that the EIA contains the essential information to be able to take a decision on the Wind Park Maasvlakte 2, in which environmental interests are fully taken into account. Pondera prepared the…
The construction of Strekdammen Windpark is getting closer. At the end of 2020 Pondera and Rebel completed the financing of the wind farm with ABN AMRO. This means that the contractors VolkerWind (KWS Infra bv Leek / van Hattem en Blankevoort) and Alsema from Zuidlaren, will soon be able to start building the two wind…
On 23rd December, 2020, the Council of State issued a decision on the environmental permit for Windpark Staphorst. The wind farm, developed by the Coöperatie Wij Duurzaam Staphorst, consists of three wind turbines. With Pondera’s support, the cooperative submitted a plan to the municipality of Staphorst in 2018 in response to the municipality’s call to…
In order to be able to connect solar parks and wind farms in Overijssel to the electricity network, network operators Enexis and TenneT want to strengthen the existing electricity network. Transformer stations are being adapted and expanded at various locations. In the municipality of Enschede, various concrete solar park projects have been licensed or are…
The Kapelle municipal council adopted the zoning plans for Windpark Willem Annapolder and Windpark Landmanslust on 27 October 2020 with the municipal executive issuing the necessary permits. An environmental impact report has already been produced for this project and a recommendation from the EIA committee has been published. These decisions pave the way for the…
Every day our colleagues at Pondera work hard to take sustainable energy projects a step forward. People may not realise that Pondera is working hard to make the electricity grid sustainable and future-proof. What exactly do our Pondera colleagues do, what are we working on, and what functions do our colleagues hold in these energy…
The Pondera team in Jakarta, led by Chandra Soemitro, recently installed the first LiDAR in Indonesia. Our colleague Maarten Graveland flew to Indonesia especially for the purpose of supporting the team in Jakarta with the installation of the LiDAR. In Maarten’s blog, you can see that this installation is slightly different than in the Netherlands.…
Pondera is supporting the Wind voor Buren project in carrying out its wind measurements. Wind voor Buren is a local initiative of the Kristen family, the Buren Energie cooperative and sustainable energy company Pure Energie. The plan is to place two wind turbines near the Buren junction (A1 / A35). One of the two intended…
On 16th September, the Council of State issued its decision on the integration plan and permits for the Groen Wind Plan. As a result of the decision, the integration plan and the permits are irrevocable and the wind plan can be built. Pondera congratulates the initiators united in Windkoepel Groen on this result. This decision…
In the past (extra) spring SDE+ round, Pondera, on behalf of Windpark Agro-Wind Reusel B.V., submitted an application for the SDE+ operating subsidy. RVO recently decided to award the SDE+ subsidy to this project. This is the next step towards the realisation of this wind farm. Pondera congratulates Windpark Agro-Wind Reusel B.V. on the SDE+ decision!
Saba to explore feasibility of wind energy The Public Entity Saba, the Saba Electric Company (SEC) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate are exploring ways to further expand the share of renewable energy. One of the options is wind energy. For this purpose, SEC has contracted Pondera to carry out a feasibility study.…
On 25 June 2020, the city council of the municipality of Delfzijl (re)established the zoning plan for the Delfzijl Zuid wind farm extension. Subsequently, on 30 June 2020, the Board of the Provincial Executive of the Province of Groningen granted an environmental permit on the basis of the General Provisions on Environmental Law (Wabo) for…
In collaboration with CE Delft, BRO and Pondera will carry out the integrated effects analysis (IEA) for the Energy Main Structure Program (PEH) under the EIA / RIP framework agreement. The effect analysis was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
In June 2020, GE announced that the Haliade-X 12 MW received a provisional type certificate from DNV-GL. This makes it the most powerful turbine in the world, a step closer to full type certification. This is the ‘IECRE Provisional RNA Component Certificate’, which demonstrates that GE’s Haliade-X prototype meets the highest safety and quality standards.…
On 17 February 2020, the City Council of Reusel-De Mierden decided to issue a declaration of no objection for the construction of Wind Farm Agro Wind. This paves the way for the Municipality Board to grant the definitive permit to the High Tech Agro Wind Association. This is a major step for the Association towards…
