Belgian based operator NHV has ceased its helicopter services in support of Ørsted’s Borssele 1+2 Offshore Wind farm off the Netherlands coast. Following an initial two year contract from 1st May 2020, the subsequent 12 month extension(s) were side-stepped by a four month agreement to 31 August 2022 and then not renewed.

Ørsted have elected to support this large wind farm using Crew Transfer Vessels.

Borssele 1 and 2 together cover an area of 128.3 km², and the 94 Siemens Gamesa 8MW wind turbines provide a capacity of 752 MW. It is the largest offshore wind farm in the Netherlands, and has been supported by NHV using an Airbus H145 from the airfield at Midden-Zeeland. The nearest point of Borssele 1+2 is 23 kilometres from the coast at Westkapelle.  Our analysis suggests that the vast majority of flights to the Borssele 1+2 area in the last six months have been to/from Ostend and not Midden-Zeeland.

NHV will retain the Airbus H145, and have advised HeliHub.com that it will continue to be available from their main base at Ostend for ad-hoc wind farm support flights for both Ørsted and other wind farm operators.