Start of Belgian tender for offshore wind energy in the Princess Elisabeth zone: 14 November

In 2021, the Belgian government decided to realise the production of a minimum of 3.15 and a maximum of 3.5 GW of offshore wind energy generation in the Princess Elisabeth zone (PEZ). This 2nd offshore wind zone in Belgium has a surface area of 285 km² and includes three plots. A tender for the permits for the construction and operation of offshore installations for plot 1 will be issued on 14 November. In order to be able to bring the generated electricity ashore, the Belgian grid operator Elia is working on an energy island off the Belgian North Sea coast. The first wind turbines of plot 1 should be operational in 2028. (photo: Princess Elisabeth Island, Elia)

The Princess Elisabeth zone with the three plots for the development of offshore wind farms | Source: Belgian government

Three lots

In the Marine Spatial Plan (MSP) 2020-2026, an additional area of 285 km² in the Belgian North Sea (on the border with France) was designated for the construction and operation of installations for the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. This area, the Princess Elisabeth zone, has a surface area of 285 km² and includes three areas: Noordhinder Noord, Noordhinder Zuid and Fairybank.

This concerns three lots with associated maximum installed capacity of 700 MW, 1225-1400 MW and 1225-1400 MW.

Planning Lot 1 Prinses-Elisabethzone | Source: Belgian government

Princess Elisabeth Island

The Belgian grid operator, Elia Transmission Belgium, is providing for an extension of the Modular Offshore Grid (MOG) to connect future wind farms to the electricity grid.

For this purpose, the so-called Princess Elisabeth Island is being constructed off the Belgian North Sea coast. The island is to function as an electricity hub: it bundles 60 km of direct current (DC) cables and 300 km of alternating current (AC) cables from the wind farms of the second Belgian offshore wind zone to bring the electricity generated there to land.

The island is designed to be nature-inclusive to promote biodiversity and help enrich the marine environment around the island and will also serve as a landing point for the interconnectors between Belgium and other European countries.

The contract for the planned HVAC high-voltage stations was awarded in June 2024 to the HSI consortium, which consists of the Belgian company Iemants (Smulders) and the Dutch companies HSM offshore Energy and IV-Offshore & Energy.

Source: Elia
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