Construction of first energy island off Belgian coast to start in 2024

Planning permission has been granted for the world’s first energy island project in the North Sea, with work due to start in early 2024, grid operator Elia announced on Tuesday.

Construction of the Princess Elisabeth energy island will begin in March 2024, grid operator Elia announced in a press release on Tuesday after the project received an environmental permit from Belgium’s North Sea Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

Belgium ranks second worldwide in offshore capacity per capita, just behind Denmark. Belgian wind farms in the North Sea produce 2.26 GW of offshore energy, and the government wants to increase production.

It was already announced that Belgium would build the world’s first artificial energy island, combining high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and alternating current (HVAC) to connect the Belgian electricity grid to new wind farms ( producing up to 3.5 GW) as well as to the future interconnections with the UK and Denmark (Nautilus and TritonLink).

Environmental concerns

However, offshore energy projects have raised concerns among environmental organisations because of the potential damage they can cause to biodiversity.

But Elia says it is working on a “nature-inclusive design” to make the island “a real opportunity for marine biodiversity”. Elia also had experts from public and private institutions, universities and NGOs make recommendations and is now fine-tuning the design, which will be presented later this year, the release reads.

The island will be built in a protected marine area (Natura 2000), which Van Quickenborne says is a first, and it is why it is good that Elia is “fully involved in the realisation of a ‘nature inclusive design”, he added.

“This demonstrates once again the power of an innovative approach, the potential of renewable energies and the importance of protecting our marine environment,” he continued.

For Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten, “it is important to take marine life into account, both above and below the water”.

Offshore wind power hub

“Our aim is to further develop the North Sea as THE power station for our country. Princess Elisabeth Island will be an essential link in this process. […] The first wind turbines will be up and running in 2028, enabling us to produce more green electricity at sea for our households and businesses,” Van Quickenborne said.

For Van der Straeten, “Belgium is one of the leaders in offshore wind and is speeding up the energy transition with a fourfold increase in offshore wind capacity in the Belgian North Sea, the construction of an energy island and new interconnections with [other] North Sea countries”.

Commenting on the announcement, the minister referred to the ambition to transform the North Sea into a “green energy powerhouse”, a term also used during the North Sea Summit last April in Ostend, where nine European countries committed to jointly producing at least 300 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050 in the North Sea.

“The energy island will become a hub for offshore wind power to provide cheap, green energy for our families and businesses,” Van der Straeten added.

North Sea Port CEO Daan Schalck said, “by developing international high-voltage links and integrating ever-increasing volumes of renewable energy into the grid, Elia is driving the integration of the European energy market and the decarbonisation of society.”

However, this project comes at a high cost, and while still unknown, the latest estimates say it should exceed €600 million, L’Echo reported on Tuesday, reaching more than €2 billion in total.

The EU contributed €99.7 million to the Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) framework project.

(Anne-Sophie Gayet | Euractiv.com)

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