How the Dutch built the world's largest freshwater wind farm

Viewed from above, 89 wind turbines form a striking hexagon of white pinpoints against dark blue water. What makes Windpark Fryslân unusual isn't just its shape, but the fact that the offshore wind farm isn't far out in the ocean. It's just six kilometres from a shore dotted with villages in a shallow lake in the Netherlands.

Anne de Groot is project director of Windpark Fryslân and Windpark Westermeerwind on the same lake, IJsselmeer. He said the freshwater locations posed some technical challenges.

"Everything was basically different than onshore," he said. 

There are also challenges compared to traditional offshore wind — including human neighbours who often aren't keen on a big change to their surroundings.

Large lakes have the potential to host offshore wind farms that generate clean energy near the populations that use it. In Canada, some environmental groups and energy developers have been pushing for that in the windy Great Lakes of Ontario, as a growing portion of the province's electricity is produced by burning climate-changing natural gas.

But offshore wind has been banned in Ontario since 2011. The Liberal government at the time imposed a moratorium amid public opposition to several offshore wind projects under development. The current Progressive Conservative government confirmed to CBC News in April that it's not approving the development of offshore wind projects because of the moratorium. It didn't respond to the question of whether it considered lifting the moratorium.

So what's different in the Netherlands? How did the largest freshwater wind farm in the world get built?

Like Canada, the Netherlands aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. One of its strategies is clean energy. Electricity generation from renewables grew from three per cent to 39.7 per cent between 2000 and 2022, the International Energy Agency reports. Of that, 59 per cent is wind.

But that doesn't mean Dutch citizens embrace the idea of wind turbines near their homes.

Arnoud Boerkoel is a spokesperson for the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân, closest to Windpark Fryslân. He said many people agree that emissions need to be cut, and aren't against wind power or even wind turbines.

Even so, there was lots of opposition to Windpark Fryslân from both local residents and the municipal council.

"People were afraid it would ruin their view; it would ruin tourism in the neighbourhood," Boerkoel recalled.

De Groot said, "It's usual in the Netherlands, as it's densely populated, that such a huge change in the landscape will face opposition."

However, he said it's generally not enough to stop a project that has political support, has carefully researched potential impacts on local wildlife, and followed all the proper procedures.