North Sea Boulevard on Maasvlakte Reopens After TenneT Offshore Wind Cable Installation
The North Sea Boulevard and Maasvlakte Boulevard are reopened to traffic as TenneT's cables for connecting two offshore wind farms are now buried in the seabed along the road. The high-voltage cables for the future IJmuiden Ver Beta and IJmuiden Ver Gamma offshore wind farms have been installed by contractor NRG.
In a few years, the green energy from the offshore wind farms will arrive onshore via cables buried in the seabed near Maasvlakte and will then be distributed to industry via the new converter stations and the Amaliahaven transformer station – for electrification and the production of green hydrogen. The new grid connections will thus contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions from the Rotterdam port area, which accounts for approximately 16% of total Dutch emissions.
To enable the cables to land from the sea, the contractor consortium NRG (Alsema, Denys, and Van Vulpen) drilled nine times under the dunes this year to install empty plastic conduits. Cable manufacturer NKT will install the cables connecting the offshore wind farms in these conduits in 2026.
In addition, NRG installed the cables along the Maasvlakte Boulevard and North Sea Boulevard last year. This work took approximately nine months in total. In recent weeks, both roads have been repaired to such an extent that they can be safely reopened to traffic. In 2026, only minor repairs along the roads will be carried out, after which the work will be fully completed and handed over.
