VREELAND, The Netherlands —
Plans by the Province of Utrecht to install three large wind turbines near Vreeland continue to meet resistance from local residents and experts, who question both the visual impact and the necessity of the project.

At a public information evening organized by the provincial branch of the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), former planner Dennis Jannette Walen presented maps and photos of the Hoeker Garstenpolder, where the 273-meter-high turbines are proposed to be built. The area lies between two Natura 2000 zones—Oostelijke Vechtplassen and Botshol—and close to historic polder mills and UNESCO-protected fortifications belonging to the Dutch Waterlines heritage site.

Disputed heritage report

According to documents released under the Dutch Freedom of Information Act (WOO), a cultural heritage assessment commissioned by the province initially warned of “significant negative effects” on the landscape and nearby heritage sites. That section, however, was omitted from the final version shared with provincial council members. The adjustment, reportedly made within the provincial administration, also removed references in the table of contents to those negative conclusions.
“It means that council members approved the plan without seeing the full picture,” said Jannette Walen.

Visual impact and local frustration

Residents also questioned how visual impact studies had been conducted. The consultancy firm Land-ID assessed the landscape from four viewpoints—one of which, behind Fort Nieuwersluis, effectively blocked the turbines from view. “If you stand behind the fort, of course you don’t see them,” Walen remarked.

Columnist Marianne Zwagerman, who moderated the evening, criticized this approach. “They picked exactly the one messy parking lot by the river that doesn’t represent the landscape at all,” she said, noting she often walks the route herself.

Energy perspective

Energy technology professor David Smeulders of Eindhoven University of Technology provided technical context. He compared the proposed turbine output to the Claus gas-fired power station in Maasbracht, noting that the latter could produce the same amount of electricity “in just two days.”
“The contribution of these turbines would be marginal,” he said, adding that the Dutch grid is already at capacity. “Grid operators keep telling me: stop adding solar panels and wind farms—there’s nowhere to send the power.”

Climate goals already met

Smeulders also questioned the need for additional turbines, pointing out that the Netherlands has already surpassed its national target of 35 terawatt-hours of renewable onshore electricity by 2030. “We’re already at forty,” he noted. “But local and provincial targets are stacked on top of each other, and that drives unnecessary expansion.”

Broader political context

BBB Member of Parliament Henk Vermeer echoed frustrations with what he called a “closed political system,” saying that energy policy had taken on “a quasi-religious character.” Yet he reminded attendees that, in practice, few new turbines have been built recently: “How many windmills were installed in Utrecht over the past two years? None.”

The meeting concluded on a somewhat hopeful note. Piet Hein Bellaar, a resident of nearby Baambrugge, presented a Danish-developed modular “energy container” that could offer alternative ways to generate or store clean power. Smeulders agreed that innovation in renewable energy technologies is progressing rapidly worldwide.