We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions For more than 100 years we have been at the forefront of innovation About Help us deliver better power for our changing world We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air Our products and service packages enable our customers to connect people Products & Services We have a fundamental role in meeting the environmental and societal opportunities and challenges that the world faces Sustainability Rolls-Royce announced 2024 Full Year results on Thursday 27 February 2025 View Webcast and Materials Updates and news from around the Rolls-Royce businesses Sign up to get the latest news Rolls-Royce has received an order from Battery Park Zeewolde (BPZ) to supply a large-scale battery storage system with an output of 32.6 Megawatts and a storage capacity of 65.2 Megawatt hours on a turnkey basis to Zeewolde in the Netherlands The mtu EnergyPack QG system is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2025 The contract also includes a ten-year maintenance agreement (Long Term Service Agreement) which offers extensive guarantees for the customer: For example the system's capacity will be guaranteed throughout the entire term we are going to be supporting the grid in improving security of supply and reducing grid congestion - so we can use our electricity much more intelligently," said Sjoerd Sieburgh "We have found a competent partner for this in Rolls-Royce Power Systems." The battery storage park of BPZ is one of two planned battery projects around the substation The other project is BES Vogelweg Zeewolde BV which is currently looking for a final investment for their project This project will expand the battery capacities around the substation by a further planned 140 MWh which will produce green hydrogen for local industry the battery park will cover around 2000 square metres making it one of the largest battery projects in the Netherlands: the energy stored annually is equivalent to the average electricity consumption of around 12,000 households The park will therefore have a considerable impact on the path towards a sustainable energy supply Battery energy storage systems are a key contributor in the energy transition," said Andreas Görtz President Sustainable Power Solutions at Rolls-Royce Power Systems "They are a central component of our strategic business areas - enabling us to sustainably and reliably strengthen energy security worldwide." the project is also significant in other respects: People from the surrounding area of Zeewolde are involved through co-ownership of the wind farm and the new battery farm: More than 200 farmers residents and entrepreneurs form the largest farmer/citizen wind collective in Europe Rolls-Royce is working with two other companies on the BESS project: The electrical work is being carried out by the Austrian plant and energy service provider Equans Civil engineering work is being carried out by the construction company Van Boekel Imagery is available for download from: Media Center (mtu-solutions.com) Our alert service delivers the latest press releases stories and regulatory news directly to your mailbox Contact a member of our press team for more information Rolls-Royce develops and delivers complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air Sign up to get the latest news Vulnerability Reporting Disclosure Policy TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and Informa we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities Luxury automaker sealing its place in the battery energy storage space Rolls-Royce increases its European battery storage system footprint with the announcement of a battery farm in the Netherlands supplying a community of 12,000 homes The luxury automaker’s mtu EnergyPack QG system is on order from Battery Park Zeewolde (BPZ) to supply a large-scale battery storage system with an output of 32.6 Mw and a storage capacity of 65.2 Mw-hrs which affirms its presence in Tesla's battery energy storage space follows on from a contract to build a similar energy storage farm for German energy supplier Encavis supplying 12 mw BPZ’s installation is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2025 The contract also includes a 10-year maintenance agreement which guarantees the system's capacity will be throughout the entire term Rolls-Royce says the system will support BPZ’s energy trading and in-the-grid services activities It also helps increase the stability of the Dutch electricity grid because the battery farm is being built next to the Zeewolde wind farm substation In periods of high energy production by the turbines electricity will be stored for later use to prevent grid overload Its farm could also work in tandem with a planned hydrogen plant which will produce green hydrogen for local industry the battery park will cover about 21,528 sq.-ft making it one of the largest battery projects in the Netherlands Paul Myles is an award-winning journalist based in Europe covering all aspects of the automotive industry He has a wealth of experience in the field working at specialist Shifting Gears: What Car Buyers Really Want in 2025 Less is More: How Website Overload Sinks Your Sales This website is owned and operated by Informa TechTarget influences and connects the world’s technology buyers and sellers Informa PLC’s registered office is 5 Howick Place A large fire in a horse stable in Zeewolde killed 18 horses overnight. Two animals could be saved, a spokesperson for the fire brigade told NU.nl The fire brigade responded to the blaze on Bosruiterweg at around 00:30 a.m The fire started in the stable’s roof and quickly spread Firefighters managed to get it under control in around 90 minutes but couldn’t save the building They let it burn down in a controlled manner keeping an adjacent home and barn wet to prevent the fire from spreading The stable housed horses belonging to multiple people. Zeewolde Mayor Gerrit Jan Gorter told Omroep Flevoland that several owners and some young people tried to get the horses out of the stable but most of the animals proved too terrified to cooperate winning stage 3 in the sprint of a reduced group ahead of Elisa Balsamo (Lidl-Trek) and Lotte Kopecky who still finished third after leading out Wiebes On the completely flat terrain in the polders of Flevoland the wind blew the peloton apart halfway through the stage the gap between the front group of 22 and a chasing group of 24 riders fluctuated between 30 and 40 seconds First Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) and then Franzi Koch (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) tried to get away in the final 10km but were both reeled in Kopecky led out her teammate on the finishing straight and Wiebes launched her sprint with about 150 metres to go Balsamo tried to come past from her rear wheel but could not match Wiebes for speed and had to settle for second place Kopecky still held off Charlotte Kool (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) for third place Zoe Bäckstedt (Canyon-SRAM) was part of the first group and defended her yellow jersey she lost four seconds to the first five riders on the stage and is now three seconds ahead of Kopecky and eight seconds ahead of Ellen van Dijk (Lidl-Trek) in the overall classification heading into stage 4 on Friday the 148.4km stage consisted of one big loop around Flevoland followed by a 20km finishing circuit With strong northwesterly winds and next to no cover on the reclaimed polder land a 2.5km stretch with full-on crosswinds finally broke the peloton apart The first group consisted of 22 riders who quickly increased their advantage on the groups behind the front group was half a minute up on the 24 chasers while the third and fourth groups had effectively given up being respectively two and four minutes behind SD Worx-Protime had all seven of their riders in the front group while Lidl-Trek were represented with Longo Borghini and Megan Jastrab were there for DSM-Firmenich PostNL Liv-AlUla-Jayco had Ruby Roseman-Gannon and Silke Smulders while GC leader Bäckstedt and Karlijn Swinkels (UAE Team ADQ) were without teammates With tailwinds on the way back towards the finish with neither side really getting the upper hand as the time gap varied between 25 and 42 seconds Lieke Nooijen and her Visma-Lease a Bike teammates who had missed the first echelon got help from Fenix-Deceuninck while SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek did most of the work in the front This made Nooijen lose her second place in GC the fight for the stage victory began when Longo Borghini attacked with 10.2km to go right after Van Dijk had finished a turn at the front of the group Wiebes and Kopecky themselves committed to chasing down the Italian champion who was finally caught 8.8km from the line Koch then launched her move with seven kilometres to go quickly getting a gap as Christine Majerus (SD Worx-Protime) jumped after her Majerus got onto Koch’s wheel and refused to take turns while Van Dijk led the chase behind and the attack was neutralised with 5.7km to go Elynor Bäckstedt tried another acceleration at the 5km mark but did not get away Barbara Guarischi (SD Worx-Protime) led Kopecky and Wiebes onto the finishing straight where Kopecky started a long lead-out Balsamo was lurking in Wiebes’ wheel while Kool was brought up from behind by Barbieri and Balsamo came out of her slipstream and tried to pull alongside but had to sit down again as she could not make up ground Kopecky still had enough speed to beat Kool to the line for third place Results powered by FirstCycling Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018 All the power in the world cannot buy you Zeewolde What was set to be the largest data center in the Netherlands will not come to be A huge planned data center in Zeewolde by Facebook owner Meta has officially been canceled, following the project being paused in March squeaking in before the moratorium was enacted But that was about as far as the project ever got After initially being approved by the town of Zeewolde, the Dutch Senate late last year paused the sale of some of the land the facility was set to be built on After initially saying it would review its options, Meta said that it was now officially killing off the data center project. "When considering a location for a data center, our priority is a good match with the environment. Ultimately, we decided that building a data center in Zeewolde is not the right investment," the company said in a statement to local media A spokesperson added the company was not working with the municipality "to conclude this project efficiently." This specific project is set against a backdrop of increasing hostility towards data centers in the Netherlands In February, the Dutch government banned new hyperscale data centers for nine months as it works out new rules for the industry Those rules moved forward in June when the Dutch cabinet approved a draft decision to strictly regulate hyperscale data centers for a longer period which now heads to the Senate and the House of Representatives The law would block municipalities from admitting new hyperscale data centers in a zoning plan or in an environmental plan essentially banning the development of large data centers Hyperscale data centers are defined by the government as facilities with more than 10 hectares and with an electricity demand of 70MW or more The provinces of Groningen and Noord-Holland are exempted - however, this week the Noord-Holland municipality of Hollands Kroon said that it was taking steps to also pause hyperscale developments Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia News release from Vestas Northern and Central Europe Hamburg Vestas and Rabobank have closed contracts for wind turbines and financing for the Windpark Zeewolde project in the Netherlands a unique collaboration of more than 200 local farmers residents and entrepreneurs of the Netherlands has placed an order for 83 Vestas wind turbines totaling 322 MW for the wind project Zeewolde The project is in the outskirts of Zeewolde on an area that covers over 300 square kilometers The wind park currently consists of more than 200 turbines which will be replaced by new Vestas turbines that will generate almost three times more energy with less than half the number of turbines demonstrating the large potential in replacing older turbines with new and more efficient variants The financing of the windfarm will be arranged by Rabobank that will provide both the junior debt and a senior debt loan (approx EUR 500m) for the construction of the project Rabobank was keen to support the financing of this project due to its cooperative structure comprising of a large client base of the bank in addition to supporting the energy transition Vestas has developed a customised solution that comprises a mix of turbine variants from the 2 MW and 4 MW platforms and a 20-year Active Output Management (AOM 5000) service contract capable of maximising the annual energy production while meeting local restrictions "We are convinced that we have signed strong partners with Vestas and Rabobank with whom we can now realize the windfarm construction quickly and efficiently," says Sjoerd Sieburgh Sjoerdsma “In October 2019 we already started with the construction of the substation and the wind farm infrastructure This was based on the financing from our community showing the confidence and entrepreneurial spirit of our community with Vestas and Rabobank we can start the construction of the turbines” “I’m excited that our new customer Windpark Zeewolde B.V. chose Vestas as partner for such a unique wind energy project in my home country It marks a great step for the renewable power supply of the region we are looking forward to repowering Europe’s largest community owned wind farm that is also Netherlands’ largest onshore wind project” President of Vestas Northern & Central Europe “Leveraging customised wind energy solutions with the lowest levelised cost of energy which more than 90 percent of the nearby community is backing up as shareholders will almost triple the annual energy production.” Rabobank was represented by Pieter Plantinga Executive Director Project Finance during the process and nowadays working online from home: all available by the push of a button Rabobank wants to ensure that when we press it the consumed energy originates from renewable sources as much as possible we as a cooperative bank are willing to take financial risks if needed Financing a wind farm of this magnitude requires months of effort from everyone involved because this is a crucial step in achieving the goals of the Dutch Climate Agreement Enabling the local community to profit from the revenues of park Zeewolde is a big plus and suits us as a cooperative bank.” The delivery of the wind turbines is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021 and it will be the largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands and the largest community-owned windfarm in Europe.Once repowered the Zeewolde wind project will generate electricity for more than 250.000 local households please contact: Christina Schmidt Communications Partner Vestas Northern & Central Europe Tel: +49 40 46778 5153 Mobile: +49 (0) 160 90141736 Email: chbut@vestas.com About Vestas Vestas is the energy industry’s global partner on sustainable energy solutions and service wind turbines across the globe and with more than 115 GW of wind turbines in 81 countries we have installed more wind power than anyone else Through our industry-leading smart data capabilities and unparalleled more than 98 GW of wind turbines under service and exploit wind resources and deliver best-in-class wind power solutions Vestas’ more than 25,500 employees are bringing the world sustainable energy solutions to power a bright future   We invite you to learn more about Vestas by visiting our website at www.vestas.com and following us on our social media channels: www.twitter.com/vestas Subscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret DownOperation Tulip: Inside Facebook’s Secretive Push To Build Holland’s Biggest Data CenterIn a wild twist Facebook demanded that its data center be designated a project of “national importance.” By the time the villagers knew Facebook was coming to town, it was already too late. Three weeks later their local councilors in the idyllic Dutch hamlet of Zeewolde voted 11–8 to rezone a swath of fertile farming land half the size of Central Park and hand it to Facebook to build its “hyperscale” data center — the largest in Holland including those who voted in favor of the data center engaged with the company for almost two years prior to the vote — but without knowing that “Tulip,” the mysterious entity they’d been negotiating with the councilors were among the last to know finding out only after Facebook issued a press release revealing Tulip’s true identity ahead of the vote Facebook’s demand for secrecy around its data center in the Netherlands is the latest example of Big Tech’s aggressive but covert strategy to squeeze concessions from local governments The veil of secrecy minimizes public scrutiny and backlash Everything is normally very transparent — but with data centers it is like a big black mystic box,” said Lars Ruiter a former municipal councilor from Hollands Kroon who told BuzzFeed News that his village found itself in a nearly identical situation in 2017 with a secret Microsoft data center project Since the Zeewolde vote, a firestorm of public criticism has compelled the Dutch national Senate to pass a parliamentary motion asking the government to halt the project pending a national policy on data centers But such motions are usually not legally binding and opponents of the data center are leaning on the commitment of the Netherlands’ newly formed government to present such a policy Data centers are the cornerstone of cloud computing They allow you to access your Google drive from any device anywhere in the world upload photographs to your Instagram account The business is extraordinarily profitable: Last year had earned over $40 billion in revenue as of October But data centers like the one Facebook proposed suck up enough energy to power a small town use millions of gallons of water a day to cool their servers This has raised questions about their sustainability and Big Tech’s insistence on building them in secret Facebook encountered a national and local bureaucracy eager to attract a major US tech giant but wary of the environmental costs and public resistance when Facebook first began exploring the possibility of building in Zeewolde its identity was known only to a few senior officials in the national government The mayor of Zeewolde found out a year into negotiations in early 2021 the King’s commissioner of the region a short time later The people of Zeewolde were the last to know the company embarked on a bare-knuckle offensive to secure the land despite Dutch bureaucrats noting that the project in Zeewolde violated the National Strategy on Spatial Planning and the Environment and suggesting a different site But Facebook was adamant about its chosen location It even asked the government to designate its data center a project of “national importance,” a Dutch national policy normally intended to expedite land acquisition and project clearances for vital infrastructure like the national electricity grid “The designation of a data center of national importance has never been done, so this would be difficult to explain and create a precedent for the establishment of (more) other data centers,” a Dutch bureaucrat tersely noted in an internal memo obtained by De Telegraaf “It also seems undesirable to us to state that the location in Zeewolde is of national importance.” a member of Dutch Parliament from the Socialist Party said the laws around projects of national importance were drafted during the 2008 financial crisis and had been misused in the past “The idea was to speed up projects in order to create jobs,” she said which meant “far less democratic control by either local regional governments or the public.” Large companies had “profited hugely from this law while local communities are deprived of rights they used to have.” Facebook also pushed the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy to lean on the state-owned electricity utility to prioritize the company’s demands for its electricity substation warning that it would consider establishing the data center in another country if its demands weren’t met “Tulip offers us little or no time to continue working on this: they are already asking for a clear signal from EZK this or next week,” another memo said noting that Facebook was actively lobbying the Dutch government to take urgent action EZK is the Dutch acronym for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy The ministry’s bureaucrats worried that prioritizing Facebook’s demands would distort the expansion of the Dutch national grid “They have a preferred position because they have a lot of money and they can pay for that,” said Ben Sonneveld “They were treated differently than others who do not have the money and have to wait.” an accommodation for the substation was made but demand to designate the project a data center of national importance was denied a former Zeewolde councilor who opposed the project resigned from his post weeks before the crucial vote telling the Dutch press he had done so under pressure from his own party after flagging unspecified conflicts of interest in the negotiations a party colleague who voted in the favor of the project Facebook’s margin of victory would have been a much narrower 10–9 Smeets told BuzzFeed News that he stood by his statement to the Dutch press but declined to elaborate on his allegations Parisius did not respond to a request for comment said years of budgetary cuts had disempowered local governments by making them far too reliant on property taxes Facebook’s new data center could contribute up to 2 million euros a year in taxes to Zeewolde’s municipal budget “Local and regional governments don't have the power to fight large companies,” she told BuzzFeed News “They are willing to work with these tech companies because they are always in money troubles.” An ariel view of fields surrounding Zeewolde Facebook’s data center project in Zeewolde and the company’s efforts to hide its involvement from the people who live there are particularly contentious because they touch on two emotive national issues: land and green energy The Netherlands is one of Europe’s more densely populated major nations much of the acreage lies below sea level and is protected from flooding by oceanfront dykes and also among the most reliant on fossil fuels But the country is also the landing point for a bundle of transatlantic undersea telecommunication cables and home to one of Europe’s biggest internet exchanges making it a compelling destination for data centers like Facebook’s The Netherlands is also a tax haven. The Tax Justice Network ranks it fourth in the world behind the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda for “​​global tax abuse,” and eighth for “financial secrecy.” Which is worth noting because when the first tranche of land for Facebook’s data center in Zeewolde was acquired the sale was made to a shell company called Polder Networks Company documents obtained by BuzzFeed News show Polder’s sole shareholder is a company called Liberation Management which advertises itself as a discreet consultancy with offices in the Netherlands and Luxembourg Polder and Liberation did not respond to requests for comment but Facebook spokesperson Kim van Bokhoven told BuzzFeed News is the legal representative of Meta in the Netherlands that builds and manages the data center.” and telecom connectivity has meant Amsterdam is now home to one of Europe’s biggest concentrations of data centers — but much of the data in the Netherlands serves users around the world “Two-thirds of the data center capacity in the Netherlands is used for companies and residents not in the Netherlands,” said René Buck a Buck Consultants International study commissioned by the Dutch government suggested that large-scale data centers offer little direct economic benefit to the communities that live around them “We often spread data needs throughout our data center infrastructure — in fact we currently serve traffic quickly and reliably around the world,” van Bokhoven told BuzzFeed News “So there is no guarantee that user traffic in the region will be served exclusively by this facility Data centers consume large amounts of energy but with many big tech companies eager to burnish their green credentials they are increasingly located near sources of renewable energy Many data centers in the Netherlands are monopolizing scarce green energy supplies for their own use to the chagrin of local communities Microsoft announced its massive data center in the Netherlands was buying up 100% of the electricity produced by a giant wind farm not far from Amsterdam Microsoft touted this as an example of its commitment to sustainability a perspective faithfully reproduced in sections of the press commentators noted that the wind farm produced enough energy to power 370,000 homes — but all the energy was being sucked up by a single American company Beckerman told BuzzFeed News outrage was building among citizens irked to see their tax dollars funneled into renewable energy investments that largely benefited foreign companies and 50% of the energy bill is made up of taxes,” she said The municipality of Zeewolde estimates Facebook’s data center would use twice the energy used by the whole town a Zeewolde councilor who voted against the project said the company had not been upfront about how this green energy would be sourced Most of Zeewolde’s energy comes from about 400 windmills on the outskirts of the town Project opponents like Sonneveld fear that much like Microsoft’s data center in neighboring Holland Kroons Facebook's arrival in Zeewolde would mean more common lands lost to windmills While the company has made no specific references to investing in wind farms in Zeewolde the secrecy around the project thus far has meant residents fear they will only find out about any potential wind farms when it is too late “I calculate that we need another 140 windmills,” Sonneveld said told BuzzFeed News that Facebook had not received any financial incentives or tax breaks to invest in Zeewolde and that a data center in the town did not violate planning guidelines He argued that the data center will bring jobs and investment to the region The town council is looking to build more windmills in Zeewolde but the windmill project predates and would not be directly connected to the data center project Gorter said Facebook’s data center intends to use “100% green power” by purchasing green certificates (known as "guarantees of origin," or GVO) across the European electricity network Gorter said the secrecy around Facebook’s data center was standard operating procedure when attracting new investment to the region to ensure that the local government did not discriminate between companies “The actual name of the company should not make a difference as they only have to decide whether a company meets the requirements for establishment in Zeewolde,” said Gorter referring to the recently concluded council vote on the project “and that does not depend on the name of the company.” And Facebook argued that despite the secrecy around the project "We understand and respect that any major project and change can lead to questions and concerns It is therefore good to emphasize that we do everything we can to be a good neighbor for everyone in the area such as the farmers and residents of the municipality of Zeewolde,” van Bokhoven told BuzzFeed News A wind farm looms over a tulip field outside Zeewolde was painstakingly claimed by damming an inlet of the North Sea — the culmination of a decadeslong process that began in 1924 and ended sometime in 1984 So to give 166 hectares of fertile land to metal boxes is beyond our imagination,” said Susan Schaap Schaap is the administrator of Stichting DataTruc Zeewolde a Facebook group of residents opposed to the data center in their village “It’s not like it’s a data center where they store all this data for maybe payments “They have all this information stored from people the public backlash against the deal has slowed the sale of the land A spokesperson for the Netherlands’ Central Government Real Estate Agency said the land would be transferred to Facebook only if a set of mandatory sustainability requirements were met the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy is slowly walking back its public support for the data center despite doing everything in its power to help Facebook When BuzzFeed News asked the ministry for its formal position on Facebook’s data center its spokesperson deferred to Zeewolde’s municipality said the various accommodations offered to Facebook stood in stark contrast to the experiences of the ordinary Dutch citizen when interacting with their local government “I guess people are really fed up with the government always acting in the best interest of these large companies,” Beckerman said adding this was “another example of a government putting too much energy and time and money in these kinds of companies.” ● Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker new decision prevents anyone else with similar plans The Dutch government has removed data center zoning permission for a piece of land Meta was previously hoping to develop a large campus on The Raad van State – the Dutch Council of State, which acts as an advisory body – last week formally annulled the zoning plan 'Trekkersveld IV Business Park' in the municipality of Zeewolde The move officially ends the long-running saga over developing data centers in the area which is located to the east of Amsterdam within the Flevoland province The original zoning plan was established in 2016 It allowed for the development of a data center and the construction of an industrial estate of approximately 35 hectares adjacent to the Trekkersveld III industrial estate Meta announced plans to develop a new Dutch data center campus at the site in Zeewolde The campus was set to span five data halls and consume 200MW at full build which would have made it the largest such development in the Netherlands After initially being approved by the town of Zeewolde, the Dutch Senate paused the sale of some of the land the facility was set to be built on After initially saying it would review its options, Meta officially killed off the data center project in July 2022 saying: “We decided that building a data center in Zeewolde is not the right investment." Though Meta had already withdrawn its proposals for the project the annulment means other developers are prevented from coming in with similar plans for the land The Raad van State said: “In the opinion of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division the municipal council should have had "reasonable doubt" about the feasibility of the zoning plan at the time it adopted the zoning plan.” “The municipality has previously acknowledged that “failure to realize the data center has consequences for the assessment of the effects of the business park.” Due to the connection between these parts of the zoning plan the Administrative Jurisdiction Division annulled the entire zoning plan.” Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia 2022 7:00 AMFacebook’s Data Center Plans Rile Residents in the NetherlandsThe country has become a magnet for Big Tech facilities but locals say they will syphon away all their green energy Photograph: Robbert Frank Hagens/AlamySave this storySaveSave this storySaveWhen Susan Schaap travels from her Dutch hometown of Zeewolde to the nearest city of Leylystad the 30-minute drive takes her through vast tulip fields interrupted only by wind turbines and sometimes sheep But if Facebook parent company Meta’s plans are approved her view would be replaced by the Netherlands’ largest ever data center Meta’s data center is “too big for a small town like Zeewolde,” says Schaap who has become one of the project’s most vocal opponents “There are 200 data centers in the Netherlands already,” she argues and the move would give huge swathes of farmland to just one company other residents of Zeewolde are outraged that Meta has chosen their town for its first gigantic data center in the Netherlands They claim the company will be allowed to syphon off a large percentage of the country’s renewable energy supply to power porn Their attitude reflects a wider shift against Big Tech’s plans to flock to the Netherlands one of three key hubs for data centers in Europe alongside the UK and Germany turning the issue into a national debate ahead of local elections later this year Amsterdam is home to a major internet exchange which distributes traffic from data centers nearby and it has attracted tech giants looking for better connectivity and fibere to set up giant “hyperscale” data centers to process their own data nearby The fate of Tractor Field 4 has sparked protests and prompted 5,000 people to sign a petition Schaap has set up a formal organization—Sichting DataTruc—to give locals’ voices more weight with the council but each insists it is not opposed to data centers per se “We don’t oppose data centers at all,” says Caroline de Roos of the biodiversity group Land von Ons “What we are opposed to is the use of this superb really excellent agricultural ground for the data center or any industry “Seventy percent of the people that were asked [in a recent survey] are against a hyperscale like this Zeewolde residents’ argument that the data center will take from the community without giving much in return is exacerbated by what they know about Meta’s social media empire At the top of the Facebook page Schaap set up to oppose the plans is a sketch by cartoonist Ronald Oudman showing five buildings towering over the flat Dutch countryside Each is emblazoned with a label that says “PORNO LIKES AND COMMENTS and CONSPIRACY THEORIES.” “It has nothing to do with medical applications for hospitals or banking applications it's not for any purpose but for fun,” says Schaap “We don't gain too much from all this [Meta] speaks about community programs and social return because it's going to be peanuts compared to what we give to them.” Zeewolde’s council ruled in favor of granting Meta a permit to use the land meaning the national government must now make a final call It is unclear whether the decision will come before or after local elections in March 2022 Meta describes the vote as “a positive outcome,” but a spokesperson said the decision to build in Zeewolde was not final “There is still a significant amount of work to do before an investment decision can be considered.” saying that "hyperscale data centers place an unreasonably large demand on the available renewable energy in relation to their societal or economic value.” because it’s not the data centers using the energy but people who are spending time online managing director of the Dutch Data Center Association which counts Google and Microsoft among its members but they’re also using Facebook and Instagram constantly to put their messages across,” he says “By complaining about data centers you’re basically complaining about the use of email “If you actually look at the energy use of data centers in the Netherlands he believes that the tech industry’s race for renewables is actually fueling the Netherlands’ green energy sector by driving market demand and helping new wind parks get financed assistant professor of regulation and governance of the Energy Transition at the Netherlands' Utrecht University also believes the argument that data centers are using up the country’s green energy is misguided Data centers are often built in close proximity to wind farms “So the perception that it uses a lot or most of the renewable electricity is easily made but there are not enough data centers to use up the entire supply.” Instead she believes that local residents are right in arguing that they don’t get much in return for hosting data centers The Netherlands has always supported lower energy prices for high-demand users to make investing there more appealing This structure incentivizes companies to run one huge data center rather than a series of smaller ones so they don’t really pay toward setting up renewable energy infrastructure Zeewolde is not the only Dutch community to clash with the data industry’s expansion only 25 to 35 percent of the total data center capacity in the Netherlands is used for Dutch data.” Ruiter, who now runs as a councillor for an independent party, is not against data centers but opposes the way negotiations are being carried out. “Governments need to be more transparent about it,” he says. “They need to ask the people who live around data centers what they think about it and what they want.” It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking Netherlands — Meta couldn't face the heat in this Dutch town Faced with outrage from local activists, the Menlo Park-based tech giant abandoned plans to build a data center here in July — just as the EU was finalizing plans to crack down on energy-intensive tech The EU bureaucrats behind the crackdown and Zeewolde activists who chased Meta out of town have one thing in common: They are on the hunt for cheap clean energy in the midst of a major energy crisis and they don't look kindly on tech infrastructure that draws heavily on the power grid Water too is becoming a scarce resource — 2022's hottest summer on record saw major European waterways reaching a historic low point The European Commission is planning to announce a plan this fall calling out data centers' environmental impact. According to a draft obtained by POLITICO they could by 2025 get a label detailing their energy and water usage — just like fridges or washing machines Public authorities "should not be put in the position of having to choose between attracting .. data centers on the one hand and ensuring that businesses and households can access electricity on the other hand," the Commission text says Reining in the energy- and water-hungry industry is a balancing act: As "more and more calculation tasks and storage capacities" are done in the cloud data centers are where the green and digital transition risk getting in each other's way EU policymakers are wading into a debate over data centers' demands that isn't new but is becoming more acute as climate change means more Europeans face far hotter and drier summers. Facebook's owner Meta Platforms dropped plans to build a data center on the outskirts of Zeewolde after local activists lobbied against a large project that would drink up green power that could benefit residents “They are buying green energy very cheaply; they put down wind farms which are actually meant for residents in the Netherlands but [instead] it goes into a data center,” local activist Susan Schaap told POLITICO at her kitchen table This summer's intense heat shows up new problems Two leading London hospitals suffered problems with their IT systems causing weeks of canceled operations and postponed appointments Data centers saw a breach of their design conditions for the first time and have now reached “uncharted territories,” said Richard Clifford head of innovation at data center consultancy Keysource If temperatures exceed what data centers are designed for every degree beyond the threshold can mean some 10 to 15 percent of capacity is lost Energy availability and prices have always played a part in the complex calculation of picking a spot for a new center assistant professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University In the “last year or two,” the availability of water also started to play a bigger role in decisions on locations The two resources are interlinked — especially when it comes to cooling Most of the energy in data centers is used to power servers but the huge facilities also produce heat and need to be cooled This requires either energy when using traditional air cooling or water when servers are cooled by evaporating water “There’s often a conflict of interest: If [a data center] uses more water it needs less water,” said Ralph Hintemann senior researcher at the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability With pressure increasing on both resources and on design conditions operators have to deal with a host of pressure points “all appearing at the same time,” said Simon Harris head of critical infrastructure at Business Critical Solutions Data center operators are telling people they are already greener and more efficient.  such as individual servers operated by companies and governments Merging all those servers into one location saves energy The Dutch government planned at one point to drastically cut back on the number of data centers with four large ones replacing more than 60 locations “What did the Dutch government accomplish with the consolidation to four big data centers?” said Stijn Grove which represents 95 percent of the Dutch data center market including operators like Google and Microsoft “They use half of the power” of what was there before The EU executive acknowledges "the significant energy-efficiency improvements the data-center industry has made in recent decades.” have also pledged to rely solely on green energy for the power they use Both Google and Meta point to a pledge to match their operations — including data centers — with 100 percent renewable energy. These pledges are part of broader environmental commitments, such as goals to replace more water than they consume in their operations But while these actions might be well-intended they have also sparked local resistance.  The huge facilities already take over tens of hectares of land Building wind farms and solar parks that come to benefit data centers doesn’t always sit well with residents — such as the activists of Zeewolde who turned the issue into one of their major arguments against the planned site.  The Commission’s new plan — initially expected in late September and part of a broader pitch to digitize the energy grid — will also "explore" asking operators to separately disclose indirect greenhouse gas emissions that steam from the purchase of data center services and “consider” an energy label for servers and data storage products All of this is forcing the EU to square its dual ambitions to become greener and more digital It wants 75 percent of European companies to use cloud services by 2030 and at the same time is aiming for “climate-neutral highly energy-efficient and sustainable” data centers Green Dutch lawmaker Kim van Sparrentak is skeptical digitization will get in the way of the sustainable transition,” she warned The one-stop-shop solution for policy professionals fusing the depth of POLITICO journalism with the power of technology The latest attempt to curb AI companies is ensnarled in an epic lobbying battle involving the Trump administration Company to change contracts amid concerns that services will get tangled in US-EU fight Brussels is far from meeting its targets to reshore microchips manufacturing Budapest has opened the door to using AI facial recognition to identify LGBTQ+ protestors Small dutch village to get country's biggest facility The small town of Zeewolde has granted Meta a permit to build the largest data center in Netherlands which will potentially have five halls and use 200MW of electrical power was approved on Thursday by a meeting of the council of the 22,000 population town 50km East of Amsterdam in the province of Flevoland The data center will be built on 166 hectares (410 acres) of farmland currently known as Trekkersveld IV (Tractor field IV) The role of data centers has been controversial in the Netherlands with opponents claiming they soak up available renewable energy and land "Hyperscale data centers place an unreasonably large demand on the available renewable energy in relationship to their societal or economic value We will be sharpening the national coordination and admissions criteria for licensing," said a statement from the coalition government published the day before Zeewolde approved the Meta project effectively reversing the policy of the previous government The Zeewolde data center will create 400 jobs data centers use around three percent of electricity according to the Dutch Data Centre Association resulting in other actions to limit data center building In 2019, Amsterdam imposed a moratorium on new data center projects in the main metropolitan areas, before allowing new projects again, in specific areas and within certain limits. Among other things the new rules are designed to move new projects further from town and make urban data centers use space and energy better Zeewolde councilor Hendrik Visser (for the VVD party) said data centers cannot be avoided according to Reuters: "To satisfy our online needs and it's probably not imprudent to build them here in Western Europe Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia Hopes to build a huge data center in the Netherlands has confirmed that it is behind a proposed data center in Zeewolde which could span five data halls and consume 200MW at full build has yet to be approved by the Zeewolde city council Facebook said that the mayor and aldermen of the municipality in the south of Flevoland have approved the plan The project in the province of Flevoland was first disclosed in February but Facebook hid its identity - going as far as to only use first names when communicating with locals would be set on a 166-hectare development at Trekkersveld IV (Tractor field IV) That makes it the largest data center campus in the Netherlands by site area and potentially the largest by actual data center space if all five data halls are built out over a five to eight-year period The project appears to have managed to circumvent a ban on new data center constructions in Flevoland pending a study into the impact of large data centers on the local community Facebook may have been able to proceed because it began work on the project prior to February Facebook has pledged to run the site on 100 percent renewable energy and expects 1,000-1,200 temporary construction jobs Other Dutch regions have also seen moratoriums. Amsterdam and Haarlemmermeer took a year's break from data centers resuming in 2020 - with multiple restrictions to ensure controlled growth Following local pushback against its data centers in Wieringermeerpolder, Google this year canceled plans to expand from one facility to four although it has said that it may build in the country in the future it used a complicated arrangement with a Luxembourg-based company to lower its tax bill considerably Water concerns in Noord-Holland have led to some farmers joining together to try to overturn a permit for more Microsoft data centers Local trade body the Dutch Data Center Association has disputed the claim that data centers could impact water supplies Facebook/Meta currently operates European data centers in Clonee Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State ruled that the building of Zeewolde and Geefsweer wind farms could go ahead.​​ Zeewolde Wind Park is situated in the southern part of Flevoland where 91 new wind turbines are being built including the renovation of a further 221 existing wind turbines Owners of the existing wind turbines and surrounding plots which will be built by Windpark Zeewolde B.V The owners of the existing turbines wanted to be eligible to carry out (part of) the project They believed that 'scarce public rights' had already been granted Special rules apply to the allocation of such scarce rights which ensure that a transparent procedure is followed The owners argued that these rules had not been properly observed Geefsweer Wind Park consists of 14 wind turbines in the east of the province of Groningen. Objections were filed against this wind farm by local residents on the grounds of damage to their living environment. However, the court ruled that the wind farm complied with the applicable statutory rules and could proceed. See here for the ruling.​​ Meta, Facebook's parent company, is not allowed to build a data center in Zeewolde. The company already withdrew from the project last year the Council of State struck down the local municipality's zoning plan Meta announced the plans for the data center at the beginning of 2021 five halls filled with computer servers were to be established this would have become the largest data center in the Netherlands This led to significant opposition, but the city council voted in favor of the project in 2021 The council did this by modifying the zoning plan to allow the facility to be built Proponents pointed to extra jobs and a boost in tax revenue opponents worried that the data center would be too big for the small village of Zeewolde They also had concerns about the power consumption and residual heat Opponents to the data center won a majority in the last municipal elections in March 2022, eviscerating local political support for the project. Therefore, Meta pulled the plug on the project a year ago. The municipality's zoning plan has now been reversed. According to the Council of State, it was "not sufficiently established that the zoning plan is feasible." Therefore, the Zeewolde city council should have had "reasonable doubt." Due to the zoning plan, it was still "legally possible" that a data center might be established later on. However, the Council of State ended that possibility on Wednesday. © 2012-2025, NL Times, All rights reserved. The council voted by 11 votes to eight to back the plan, with Labour and GroenLinks councillors in favour of Meta. GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver told talk show Op1 on Thursday evening the councillors’ move had been ‘extraordinarily stupid’ not least of which that it is being build on agricultural ground There is also concern about the massive amount of energy needed to power the centre – the equivalent of a small city of 460,000 people The vote – technically in favour of changing local zoning laws – does not mean the end of the matter Part of the l65 hectare site is owned by the state And the licencing procedure is still ongoing and can be appealed up to the Council of State Meta said in a reaction that it is ‘pleased’ with the council’s vote but added that ‘much work still has to be done’ before a definitive decision is taken, broadcaster NOS reported Local planning chief Egge Jan de Jong argues that the project will generate millions of euros in property taxes will boost jobs and will provide heat for town heating schemes The new government has pledged to remove decisions about giant data systems from local authorities and to issue the licences centrally, following calls from MPs for a national strategy Other massive data centres are also on the way. Microsoft has been given the green light for a second centre in Wieringermeer and an unnamed company wants to build a third in Appingedam We could not provide the Dutch News service without the generous support of our readers Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day Many thanks to everyone who has donated to DutchNews.nl in recent days We could not provide this service without you Please help us making DutchNews.nl a better read by taking part in a short survey Vattenfall has signed a long-term purchasing agreement for renewable electricity from the new upgraded Zeewolde wind farm in the Netherlands 220 existing wind turbines will be replaced by 91 larger and more powerful turbines which will produce more than 850 GWh every year This makes it the largest onshore wind project in the Netherlands Vattenfall will purchase power from 83 of the new turbines with an installed capacity of more than 300 MW “This is the largest purchasing contract that Vattenfall has ever concluded for renewable energy in the Netherlands Zeewolde wind farm will supply sustainable electricity to 250,000 Vattenfall customers,” says Erik Suichies head of Vattenfall’s European wholesale customer business Zeewolde wind farm is owned by more than 200 farmers residents and entrepreneurs from the outskirts of Zeewolde Together they form the largest farmers / civil wind collective in Europe The repowering work to exchange the existing wind turbines by more powerful turbines will start at the end of 2019 and is expected to last until the end of 2021 “In Vattenfall we have a solid partner in the first place one with extensive experience in this area I also find it positive to see that a local organization such as ours and an internationally operating company like Vattenfall know how to find each other," says Managing Director Sjoerd Sieburgh Sjoerdsma at Windpark Zeewolde B.V With the Windpark Zeewolde agreement Vattenfall has now concluded purchase contracts in its various markets with a combined capacity of 6.5 GW “Vattenfall wants to make a fossil-free living possible within one generation The purchase of sustainable electricity from this wind farm fits perfectly with that strategy More and more people want to switch to sustainable energy With this collaboration we can help to meet that demand," says Peter Buskermolen For more information, contact:Vattenfall's Press Office, tel.: +46 87 39 50 10, press@vattenfall.com After successfully testing multi-use offshore practices at Danish Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea Vattenfall and its project partners are now bringing the pioneering WIN@sea project to the .. When Swedish Bruzaholm wind farm is completed this autumn it will not only produce fossil free power It will also be a shining example of how partnering can spur innovative ideas Artificial intelligence combined with drones offers significant advantages for offshore wind Advanced AI technologies not only enhance safety and efficiency of offshore activities but also .. Contact us LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Facebook Vattenfall is a European energy company with approximately 21,000 employees For more than 100 years we have electrified industries supplied energy to people's homes and modernised our way of living through innovation and cooperation More about Vattenfall 2022 An artist's impression of the site Illustration: Gemeente ZeewoldeAn artist’s impression of the site Illustration: Gemeente ZeewoldeFacebook parent company Meta has agreed to stop work on setting up a massive data centre near the Flevoland town of Zeewolde A majority of MPs on Tuesday urged ministers to stop the construction and one hour later Meta said it was putting the project on hold The dispute over the local council’s green light for the massive data centre took a new twist earlier this month when a political party opposing the project won an absolute majority in the local election ‘I never expected things would move so quickly,’ said Tom Zonneveld Zeewolde council had voted to amend the zoning plan at the end of December clearing the way for the data centre to be built part of the land is owned by national government which which still had to give its approval for the project The largest onshore wind farm in the Netherlands opened in Zeewolde on Friday it is also the largest in the world that is wholly owned by people living in the surrounding area The wind farm has 83 wind turbines owned by over 200 farmers and other local residents The wind turbines will supply green energy to around 300,000 households Onshore wind farms often provoke resistance from locals According to director Sjoerd Sieburgh Sjoerdsma the project in Zeewolde shows that things can be done differently “You can be angry about the possible arrival of a wind farm and ensure that burdens are turned into benefits The fact that the wind farm is entirely in the hands of people from the area is remarkable Other wind farms in which locals participate are often partly owned by companies such as the Krammer wind farm on the border of Zeeland and Zuid-Holland The Zeewolde wind farmers will sell their electricity to energy company Vattenfall for the next 15 years Leefbaar Zeewolde, the big winner of the municipal elections in Zeewolde, Flevoland this week, plans to do everything in its power to stop the arrival of a massive data center Facebook parent Meta wants to build in the municipality party leader Tom Zonneveld said to Omroep Flevoland Leefbaar Zeewolde doubled its number of council seats to 10 making the party big enough to hold a one-seat majority on the city council without a coalition partner Zonneveld believes his party won because of its opposition to the Meta data center. He sees the election results as an assignment from the voters to reverse the decision. "The most important step has already been taken: the zoning plan It will be very difficult to reverse that," Zonneveld said to the broadcaster The first possibility is a vote on the sale of the land for the data center in the Senate next week "We can at least let the members of the Senate know that Zeewolde has started to think differently about the data center," he said and the Central Government Real Estate Agency still has to agree to the sale of the land." Zonneveld plans to exert influence at every step in that process And I want to try with every hurdle to slow the process." Leefbaar Zeewolde hopes to work with the ChristenUnie in Zeewolde Tamara Baas of the ChristenUnie told Omroep Felvoalnd that there's little point in trying to change the zoning plan "And that is in the signal that the people of Zeeowlde have given us that it is about something big and that the decision may have to be taken by a government that can see the whole picture." the data center will be the first topic in the first city council meeting after the new city council is installed Spatial Planning Minister Hugo de Jonge is also against the data center being built on the site in Zeewolde which is owned by the state's real estate arm "It is our land and we have set conditions for its sale It is highly questionable whether Zeewolde will be able to meet those conditions," NOS quoted De Jonge as saying "I think the Netherlands is too small for these very large data centers." Missing 25-year-old Anne Faber was found dead in the woods on holiday park Horsterwold in Zeewolde on Thursday afternoon Her body was taken to the Netherlands Forensic Institute in The Hague for investigation the police announced on Twitter that their investigation at the scene was done and the area is open to the public again Michael P. was arrested on Monday. He was staying in an Altrecht psychiatric institution in Den Dolder where he was being prepared for his return to society after a years long prison sentence was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2012 for raping to teenage girls in Nijkerk in 2010 The 27-year-old man from Zeewolde was arraigned on Thursday The magistrate remanded him into custody for another 14 days On Thursday Minister Stef Blok of Security and Justice announced an investigation into the situation at the Altrecht clinic He asked the Inspectorate for Security and Justice and the Inspectorate for Healthcare to look into it There are many questions about the clinic and the freedoms P Over the past days it was revealed that he was free to go outside without supervision and had access to his mother's car In a short statement Blok expressed his "intense sympathy with Anne's family But given the ongoing criminal investigation A spokesperson for Anne's family gave a statement during the press conference on Thursday We still have a lot of questions as a family But with the answers we will not get Anne back." Faber said We are grateful for all the support we received." The Altrecht institution in Den Dolder also released a statement This is an unreal and intensely sad message for her family Our thoughts are with all the people who now miss her and we wish them a lot of strength in this incredibly sad time" Altrecht will fully cooperate in the investigation of the Security and Justice and Healthcare Inspectorates "Today it definitely became clear that we will not see our beloved colleague Anne again We are devastated: in the short while she worked for Het Huis she made herself loved and indispensable with her passion from whom Anne has been taken away in an unimaginable manner It was a privilege to have Anne in our midst for the past few months and we miss her incredibly 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, EncroChat and Sky ECC. 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. from Zeewolde. Guiliano A. was accused of maintaining contact with the cocaine barons in South America, while Ron H. 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, according to prosecutors. However, only the first shipment of 10 kilograms of cocaine found hidden between bananas was proven, the court ruled. 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. After the verdict was read, Ron H. and two fellow suspects were placed in custody. Guiliano A. was not present in at court on Tuesday.. With an annual capacity of 30 million chicks, the new hatchery is considered one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. Incubators were supplied by Emka from Belgium These are equipped with Teggnologic27 technology using cooling water of a higher temperature According to managing director Pieter Kruit of Verbeek these Emka machines are specifically suitable for hatching eggs of layer strains A ‘bird detection system’ will be installed in the Netherlands at the Windpark Zeewolde next summer to prevent bird collisions with wind turbines especially the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) The innovative system will be installed following the recent fatal collisions of a white-tailed eagle and a Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus Barbatus) in one of the 83 wind turbines of the park With a growing number of pairs of eagles breeding near the wind farm the system is meant to prevent further collisions 28 white-tailed eagle nests were built this season in Oostvaarderslplassen Forty-five hatchlings successfully joined the population which has been facing a positive growth trend in recent years the wind farm’s proximity to the breeding area poses a severe threat to the birds When the cameras detect a sea eagle approaching 300 meters or less the nearby turbines will automatically shut down The cameras were designed specifically to detect white-tailed eagles as they tend to soar the land from above before diving deep in a hunt but it is ineffective in keeping them away from the dangerous wind turbines “several million euros are being invested” in piloting this innovative detection system "Although too late for Roc and the White-tailed Eagle this is good news and a major breakthrough in the Netherlands" another Bearded Vulture fatally collided with a wind turbine in Noord-Holland in the Netherlands 16 Griffon Vultures lost their lives in Aragon a Cinereous Vulture got its wing cut off after colliding with a wind turbine and another lost its life in the Greek Rhodopes in 2022 Most of the birds found dead carry GPS transmitters under several monitoring projects ongoing in Europe but go unnoticed by the local authorities as their corpses disappear eaten away by multiple generalist predators Shut down on demand (SDOD) is the most effective way to tackle the threat as losses in energy are negligible and pose insignificant economic loss to energy companies technology or hybrid) and shut down criteria which allow night detection and cover vast areas but are expensive and cannot differentiate species cameras allow for species identification but are equally costly and cover short-range areas This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article Register free to upload Weekly birding round-up: 25 Apr - 1 May 2025 Jon Dunn brings you his weekly birding roundup looking back at the best birds from around Britain, Ireland and the WP, where this week a Cape Gull tops the bill. More here > New storm-petrel species emerges from Wilson's shadow A taxonomic reappraisal of Wilson's Storm-Petrel reveals a cryptic highland species in Chile - now named the Andean Storm-Petrel. More here > In a court hearing on Wednesday it was revealed that Michael P. Faber was reported missing from Utrecht on September 29 The news was disclosed by the Public Prosecutor during a pre-trial hearing in the case against P P.'s lawyer declared that his client regrets his actions and is willing to cooperate in the investigation the suspect was under treatment at a psychiatric clinic in Den Dolder for the rape of two girls in 2010 The Public Prosecutor said they want to evaluate the statement to determine its veracity the victim's uncle and family spokesperson told NOS that it was a very difficult day for family and friends but to hear it is actually terribly painfully" He added that there is still much anger and grief over the murder disappeared on September 29 after she set out for a bike ride Her body was found in a nature preserve in Zeewolde on October 12 following the investigation into P The accused was not present at the Wednesday hearing He was arrested on October 9 after trace evidence recovered from Faber's jacket matched his DNA The Public Prosecutor thanked the group of the missing girl's friends that voluntarily collaborated in the search operation and investigation "Without the help of the volunteers we wouldn't have progressed to where we are now" The trial is expected to take place around June 11 Strong wind likely caused a wind energy turbine to break apart and crash to the ground in Zeewolde The incident happened along the Eemmerdijk on Wednesday morning when a warning was in effect for strong sustained winds and gusts in neighboring regions Brandweer aanwezig bij geknakte windmolen aan de Nekkeveldweg. pic.twitter.com/05PyCAd1pK “Nobody was injured in the incident,” firefighters said on social media “Debris is lying in the field and along the Eemmerdijk.” and the top of the windmill came crashing down The debris was scattered over an area of several hundred meters Firefighters said traffic was being allowed to continue through the area The newspaper said parts landed on the verge of the road and against the dike the roadway was restricted to local traffic at times The other windmills along the dike will also be inspected as a result of the accident Our technical crew is “on their way and will soon investigate the exact cause We are now discussing how to get rid of the mill At the moment the wind is too strong to do that in a safe way,” said Geertjan Veenstra of the Flevoland Security Region to AD