Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 175
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2023
6. REAL ESTATE
6.1 Rights over land to be secured
A seabed lease ("recht van opstal") has
to be established between the wind farm
operator and the Dutch government. Apart
from the seabed lease for the wind turbines,
a rental agreement for the infield cabling
between the wind turbines and the TenneT
platform has to be signed.
In recent tenders, the Central Government
Real Estate Agency calculated the costs for
the right to the seabed lease at the sites in
question, based on a rate of EUR 0.98 per
MWh every year, using a fixed total capacity
of 0.7 GW and 4,000 full-load hours. The
payment is fixed and independent of the
final actual installed capacity or output from
the wind farms and is only required for the
part of the wind farm within the 12 miles
zone. Annual payments will be required four
years after the permits have become irrevocable and will be indexed for the period of
operation.
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In addition, from the moment the permit
is awarded, up to the moment of the full
payment, a reservation fee has to be paid
for the part of the site within the 12 miles
zone. These payments (indexed) will also be
required for the period from when the wind
farm ceases operation until it has been fully
decommissioned and removed.
6.2 Costs and risks of legal challenges
In general, there is no risk regarding possible
successful challenges to the right to use the
land. As explained above, within the Dutch
territory, the right to use the land is included
in the planning and tender approval which
becomes final and binding upon expiry of
the respective objection periods, or the final
rejection of any objections.
