From Wind Plot to Energy Hub: What the Kavelbesluit Means for Offshore Hydrogen

The Dutch kavelbesluit has become a broader planning instrument for offshore wind. Since 1 January 2026, it can also accommodate installations that convert wind-generated electricity into another energy carrier, including hydrogen. The change creates a legal gateway for integrated offshore wind-to-hydrogen projects. It does not, however, establish a complete offshore-hydrogen regime [1].

Under the Wet windenergie op zee, a kavelbesluit identifies a site within a designated offshore wind area and sets the spatial and environmental conditions under which a wind farm may be built, operated and removed. It also identifies the route of the connection from the wind farm to an applicable connection point. The decision records site investigations and may prescribe measures to prevent, mitigate or compensate environmental effects. It therefore prepares a de-risked location before the separate competitive procedure determines which developer receives the wind-farm permit [2]. Historically, the instrument was centred on electricity generation. Parliament had already contemplated conversion of offshore electricity into hydrogen, but the statutory definition of a wind farm did not clearly encompass the necessary conversion installation. The Verzamelwet KGG 2026 corrected that omission. A wind farm now includes, where applicable, facilities for converting the electricity it generates. The explanatory materials make the limitation important: conversion equipment belongs to the wind farm only when the relevant kavelbesluit expressly provides for it and attaches conditions [3].

This amendment permits an offshore electrolyser to be legally integrated into the wind-farm configuration. In principle, the state can investigate the location, environmental effects, safety parameters and spatial coexistence issues in advance and reflect them in the kavelbesluit. The tender can then concern a more integrated energy proposition rather than a wind farm whose hydrogen component is designed only after the spatial framework has been fixed. Earlier legislative materials recognised that the connection route could, depending on the chosen configuration, relate to a hydrogen pipeline connecting the offshore installation to another installation or distribution point [4]. Statutorily, a kavel remains a location for a wind farm, and the conversion facility is included only as part of that wind farm. A standalone electrolyser, hydrogen-storage installation or pipeline project does not automatically fall within the instrument. Nor does the decision absorb every authorisation required across the hydrogen chain. Water intake and discharge, pipeline landfall, onshore compression, connection to the hydrogen backbone, storage, port facilities and industrial offtake may remain subject to distinct planning, environmental, water, safety, energy-market and property-law procedures [5].

Picture by the author from conference “Contested Transitions: Law for Energy Justice” from the presentation of prof. Darren McCauley on energy justice (New Castle University) , RUG, June 29, 2026.

That fragmentation has practical consequences. Offshore hydrogen is a chain, not merely an additional machine inside a wind farm. A legally robust kavelbesluit must therefore assess dependencies beyond the polygon drawn around the turbines. If electricity conversion is authorised offshore but the hydrogen route, storage capacity or credible demand remains unresolved, the state may allocate a development position that cannot operate economically. Conversely, integrating electrolysis too firmly into the site decision may privilege hydrogen over direct electrification or other flexibility options before their comparative value is established. The tender dimension is significant when an integrated kavel combines wind generation, conversion facilities and access to scarce maritime space, the successful wind developer may acquire a first-mover position across several linked markets. The offshore-wind permit procedure is not automatically a concession under EU concession law: that classification depends on the legal structure, reciprocal obligations and transfer of operating risk. Nevertheless, the allocation design must be examined through transparency, equal treatment, competition, State-aid and, where public infrastructure is involved, open-access and unbundling requirements [6].

Environmental participation needs to also occur early enough to influence the integrated configuration. Consultation on a final electrolyser layout is of limited value if the earlier wind-area designation, pipeline corridor and funding architecture have already foreclosed alternatives. Strategic environmental assessment, project-level assessment and nature-protection review should therefore be coordinated around cumulative effects: marine ecology, desalination and brine discharge, safety zones, shipping, fisheries, platform reuse and the onshore consequences of landfall. Dutch legislation has just made the kavelbesluit more capable of hosting offshore conversion, while the government has paused preparations for new offshore-hydrogen production and transport infrastructure for five years. The planned demonstration projects have consequently been put on hold. The legal door is open, but the deployment programme has stepped back from it [7]. The amendment’s lasting importance is institutional. It shows that the kavelbesluit can evolve from a wind-siting decision into a platform for limited energy-system integration. Its success will depend on resisting two opposite errors: treating hydrogen as a minor accessory to wind, or loading one site decision with a complete value chain that it cannot legally govern.

picture from GCELS Linkedin, RUG, June 28, 2026.

References

1. Wet windenergie op zee, consolidated version effective from 1 January 2026.

2. Verzamelwet KGG 2026 and its commencement order.

3. Explanatory materials on conversion of offshore wind electricity and hydrogen connections.

4. Directive 2014/23/EU on concession contracts.

5. EU hydrogen-market Directive and Regulation.

6. RVO, current status of Dutch offshore-hydrogen production.