The high-voltage connection between Krimpen aan den IJssel and Geertruidenberg is crucial for the electricity supply in large parts of South Holland and Brabant the 89 towers along this 380kV route were in need of a major overhaul A challenging task—made even more complex by the fact that the connection runs through fragile natural areas in Alblasserwaard and the Biesbosch we successfully delivered this project in collaboration with TenneT we reinforced the foundations of all towers and installed additional foundation piles where necessary Working in the wet polder landscape required extra care and expertise explains: ‘In the northern part of the route which poses challenges due to the low load-bearing capacity of the ground we used temporary construction roads made of wood chips This was essential to support the heavy machinery and minimise damage to the underlying soil.’ Read more about this project (in Dutch) BAM with its JV partners Ferrovial and SK ecoplant (known as Riverlinx) have completed the Silvertown Tunnel a landmark infrastructure project connecting Silvertown in Newham with the Greenwich Peninsula BAM has started work to transform accessibility at Hither Green station in London - making travel easier quicker and more inclusive for thousands of people every day TenneT has awarded BAM Infra Nederland the civil works contract for the 380 kV high-voltage connection between Moerdijk and Tilburg covering the eastern section of the new connection between Rilland and Tilburg More > Couples who want to get married at city hall have to pay more than last year in most municipalities An extensive ceremony costs an average of 477 euros on the popular Friday The price varies enormously per municipality according to the trade site ThePerfectWedding.nl which collected the rates from all municipalities 319 of the 342 municipalities increased there wedding fees lovebirds in this Noord-Brabant municipality pay 915 euros for a ceremony on Friday That is double the 2023 amount when the costs were still 465 euros The municipality said it implemented the increase to bring the fees in line with those of neighboring municipalities It also brought the Friday afternoon fees in line with the fees for Saturday and Sunday Fiances in Zeist also have to pay significantly more than last year The Utrecht municipality increased the rate by 245 euros to 924 euros Other municipalities that significantly increased their fees include Gorinchem Beek was previously the cheapest municipality to get married in on a Friday Leeuwarden is the most expensive municipality to get married in on a Friday Voerendaal in Zuid-Limburg is the cheapest at 200 euros “The differences per municipality are extreme,” said Sarah Glasbergen of ThePerfectWedding.nl “We have been doing this research for years and it would be good if something was finally done about it the differences were already large and parliamentary questions were even asked about it Many municipalities charge different rates for Monday to Friday and for the weekend Some municipalities also have a special rate for Fridays GEOxyz has been selected by the Dutch-German transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT to carry out geophysical and geotechnical surveys for the export cable route for the Nederwiek III offshore wind farm (NW3) in the Netherlands The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and TenneT are planning an underground high-voltage connection from the Nederwiek offshore wind farm in the North Sea to the municipality of Geertruidenberg or Moerdijk TenneT awarded the Belgium-based company the geophysical and geotechnical route survey for the inland section in the lake and riverine environments from Stellendam to Geertruidenberg and optionally the offshore section near the Nederwiek offshore wind farm and the nearshore realm south of the Port of Rotterdam GEOxyz will mobilise Geosurveyor VII and Geosurveyor V and for the offshore works Geo Ocean III or Geo Ocean VI are scheduled Ultra shallow waters and land sections will be covered by the company’s Geodrone ASV and aerial UAV team The aim of the surveys is to investigate the suitability of the envisaged cable corridor a geological model of the cable corridor and a resulting Burial Assessment Study (IBAS) will be supplied.  The company said that this study shall determine the necessary technical parameters for cable design and installation methodology thereby minimizing the risk of encountering unforeseen ground conditions during the cable installation process.  The Nederwiek Wind Farm Zone is one of the three new offshore wind areas the Dutch Government designated last year located 90 kilometres off the west coast of the Netherlands Nederwiek Zuid & Noord (North and South) and three project sites: the 2 GW Nederwiek Zuid I Nederwiek Noord II and III are planned to be auctioned off in 2026 and are scheduled for commissioning in 2030 and 2031 Daily news and in-depth stories in your inbox The Pioneers of Offshore Engineering GustoMSC part of NOV’s Marine and Construction business is recognized for providing advanced design & engineering consultancy for mobile offshore units and reliable equipment and technical knowledge into realistic & innovative ideas The performance of new and existing jack-ups RWE uses floating solar at the Amer power plant in Geertruidenberg/Netherlands You can use our filter to find relevant topics Alternatively our search function or the overview of articles can help you out An increasing number of solar farms is learning how to swim – and for good reason. Modules floating on a lake save space on land known as ‘floating solar,’ offers even more advantages There is less shade on open waters and their cooling effect increases solar cell efficiency This is why floating technology is booming especially in Asia, which has many densely populated regions. We showcased some of the biggest farms on en:former How are such solar farms built and how does their design differ from that of their conventional variants Our image gallery presents answers to these questions and shows how RWE installed its first floating PV system in the Netherlands This is the lake on which a 6.1 megawatt floating solar farm is installed immediately neighbouring the Amer power station in Geertruidenberg in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant The company has already set up a ground-mounted PV array at this site the power plant has gradually been converted to fire biomass A crane placing building material on a lakeside construction platform before construction begins These are the blocks of concrete to which the floaters carrying the solar modules were anchored to A crane parked on the platform lowered the anchoring blocks onto the bottom of the lake one by one attaching anchor cables to the concrete blocks to keep the floaters in place later on They are made of durable plastic capable of easily withstanding the wind and weather for many years which can be recycled at the end of their service life Then electricians mounted the solar modules to the floaters that are arranged to form a square Although the modules have firm connections the lattice-like structure is flexible enough to adjust to water movements The connecting elements double as standing areas for maintenance work The PV modules are slanted to maximise sunlight incidence referred to as a 'string,' has a dedicated cable running over the floaters to the shore Assembly was performed from the shore as the pontoons rested on wooden pallets and were guided onto the water using beams The structure moved farther out onto the lake with every added row of modules As soon as a square of modules was completed it could be dragged from the shore to its intended location by boat All panels are at least ten metres away from the shore to protect the animals and plants there It remains connected to the lakeside via two catwalks A total of 13,400 modules was installed on the lake near the power station and 25 kilometres of cable were laid We encounter energy everywhere – at home, on the street, in the office and on the workbench. But what exactly is energy? How and from what is it made? How is it stored, transported and converted? The questions abound, answers to which are provided by this blog – exciting, snappy and always up to date. Learn more The 2kg sculpture was the equivalent of around 8,000 pills Dutch police have discovered a garden gnome made entirely out of MDMA during a drug bust The raid took place in the southern Netherlands earlier this month and led to officers discovering a 2kg wad of ecstasy in the shape of a garden gnome the gnome looked  “visibly startled” and was found alongside other narcotics It drew the attention of the officers present at the drug bust as it seemed like “a strange place to keep your garden gnome” “Drugs appear in many shapes and sizes, but every now and then we come across special things,” a spokesperson said (via the BBC) The sculpture weighed around 2kg (4lb), and Mixmag reported that it was the equivalent of around 8,000 ecstasy pills police said that the gnome appeared to be grey and had a similar texture to that of a stone It hasn’t been confirmed which part of southern Netherlands the raid was done in Dongemond Police work in locations including Oosterhout Dutch police find gnome made of MDMA during drug bust https://t.co/bbNdPGSZGv — BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 22, 2024 This isn’t the first time that a major ecstasy bust has made headlines police in Ibiza reported what they called “the largest ecstasy drug bust in Spanish history” In the raid, over a million ecstasy pills were seized, and it was said to be related to  Spanish, Italian and Dutch suspects who operate in “different parts of Europe”, smuggling drugs using cars with fake undercarriages” (as per Mixmag) It also comes as it was reported in October that clubbers in the UK had been issued a warning after high-strength pills led to “multiple” hospitalisations across London. According to harm reduction charity The Loop various types of pills had been found in the capital that included strengths of MDMA between 90mg and 290mg It added that a quarter of all ecstasy tablets it tested came up with over 200mg – double the adult dose Before then, the same charity issued a warning about “super strength” ecstasy pills at Glastonbury 2024, and they also found evidence of the “super strength” pills from samples at Manchester’s Parklife It has been a growing issue across the UK. Back in 2022, for instance, Reading & Leeds Festival issued a fresh warning about the use of drugs at their festivals noting that “ecstasy deaths appear to be rising year on year” Last June, numerous figures from the live music industry criticised the government’s U-turn on festival drug testing which came amid the Home Office retracting its support for drug testing at festivals The three-month licence application process was branded as a “deadly step backwards” by Bristol Nightlife Advisor Carly Heath and Michael Kill of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) warned that it would have “considerable ramifications and a potential to put people’s lives at risk.” The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952 The Netherlands is much more important for Rhine sturgeon than what was previously assumed especially considering a reintroduction of the species in the river Rhine In this area the fish was captured in multiple fisheries This became apparent from historical research by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) Dutch fishermen have caught at least forty thousand sturgeons weighing an average of about ninety kilos Most of these fish were sold at fish markets around the Biesbosch 'That lasted until the 1930s,' says researcher Niels Brevé of Wageningen University & Research and Sportvisserij Nederland 'because by then sturgeons became extirpated from the river Rhine' Brevé has searched all kinds of archives in the Netherlands but also the salmon and the shad belonged to the so-called 'Vroonvisch' Fishermen had to pay tax per fish and tax was officially registered This historical research shows that the sturgeon occurred en masse in the area of ​​the Rhine and Maas delta Brevé is also involved in a project where sturgeons were released with a transmitter in the hope of reintroducing this species "A lot of people don't know that sturgeons could grow up to five meters in length and weigh 350 kilos," says Brevé "This research shows that if we want to have this iconic fish back in the Rhine and North Sea we have to focus part of our restoration work on the Netherlands." The European sturgeon used to be widespread The species was distributed over all seas and main rivers in Europe such as with drift nets on the river and steam trawlers at sea hardly any sturgeons were left in the wild The status of this iconic species changed from "common" to "critically endangered" in hundred years canalizing and damming rivers has not helped either deep and fast-flowing water with gravel beds to reproduce available just across the border in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia Adult sturgeons migrated from the sea to spawn to these spawning grounds over hundreds of kilometers After one or one and a half years these juvenile fish moved out into the North Sea Male sturgeons only returned to spawn after at least ten years whereas females needed 15-22 years to attain maturity males made this journey from sea to river and back every other year yet females only reproduced every three to five years Brevé: 'The biological cycle of the sturgeon is not helping their reintroduction and conservation because the reproduction of these fish is rather complex and slow' This research was carried out in collaboration with the Radboud University Nijmegen Sign In Subscribe Now Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our Community Guidelines TenneT is a leading European electricity transmission system operator(TSO) with its main activities in the Netherlands and Germany They are accelerating the extension of the high-voltage grid in Brabant A number of projects are being brought forward The high-voltage grid in our province is going to be  divided into areas Additional high-voltage substations are to be built They must ensure that the electricity can be directed to and from the national main grid When Tennet decided in mid-June not to connect any new companies to the electricity grid in Brabant and Limburg there was panic all around Tennet could not help existing companies that wanted a heavier connection either The high-voltage grid in both provinces is almost at the maximum capacity The demand for greater capacity of the national high-voltage grid is high This is caused by the rapid development of the energy transition and further economic growth The demand is also  growing due to the arrival of wind turbines heat pumps and the sustainability plans of the industry The capacity of the electricity grid must be doubled over the next ten years in order to meet the climate ambitions and the sharply increasing demand The investment plan presented on Tuesday contains an overview of major projects that TenneT will carry out or deliver in the coming years The national grid operator is dividing the high-voltage grid into five sub-areas Eindhoven and Boxmeer will have an extra docking station for this purpose Dividing the long high-voltage cable into sections will ensure a better routing of electricity  to and from the national main grid There are currently major problems with the return of electricity over the cables the surplus power can more easily go to such a coupling station a number of large projects are brought forward the expansion of the capacity at Geertruidenberg will be accelerated The new high-voltage substation at Tilburg will be built earlier The expansion at Eindhoven will be completed earlier These three projects should be completed in 2025 instead of 2028 Energy minister Rob Jetten appointed Ben Voorhorst as special coordinator He will address the capacity problems in Brabant and Limburg the provinces and the network operators to speed up (planning) procedures This is crucial for the business climate and the sustainability plans in both provinces Source: OmroepBrabant and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Several suspected members of a drug gang were convicted and sentenced to jail times of up to eight years and a month in Zwolle on Tuesday The suspects were caught because the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States was able to read their messages in real time The suspects communicated with each other through the messaging app ANOM which was created in 2018 as a successor to two encrypted message services which were infiltrated earlier Users did not know that ANOM was actually being controlled by the American investigation service They informed the Dutch authorities about the gang’s activities from the evidence collected The messages showed that the group had various transport routes to smuggle cocaine from South America to Europe Around 10 kilograms of cocaine was transported The most severe punishment went to Guiliano A (53) from Geertruidenberg and 61-year-old Ron H was accused of maintaining contact with the cocaine barons in South America spoke with accomplices at the port of Hamburg The cocaine was transported in containers filled with bananas An accomplice rejected the containers in question at the ripening facility of banana producer Dole in Hamburg so that their contents could be transferred elsewhere The gang carried out two test shipments from Ecuador and Colombia to the port of Hamburg only the first shipment of 10 kilograms of cocaine found hidden between bananas was proven Five other suspects were given lesser punishments Prosecutors recommended nine years in prison against the two main suspects They were able to await the verdict in their case in freedom and two fellow suspects were placed in custody