Princess Elisabeth Island

• 2022-2023: tender procedure for the energy island, development of environmental impact report and permitting procedure and applications for the grant of the domain concession for the energy island.
• 2024 to mid-2026: building the energy island
• 2026-2030: successive construction and commissioning of electrical infrastructure on the energy island.

The development of wind farms follows the competitive procedure developed by the government. You can consult the schedule here. The connection of the wind farms to the Elia grid is linked to the commissioning of the onshore grid reinforcement projects Ventilus and Boucle du Hainaut. Elia aims to provide full connection capacity by 2030.

The commissioned wind farms (1st concession) have a total capacity of 2.3 GW. In addition to this zone, the 2020-2026 Maritime Spatial Plan indicates three new zones. Together, the zones are 285 km² and were named the Princess Elisabeth Zone. Up to 3.5 GW of wind energy will be produced here.

The Princess Elisabeth Zone will also host the energy island. With this, Elia is taking an important step in developing a European electricity grid at sea and achieving European climate ambitions of having 300 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.

Sustainability and respect for the marine environment are increasingly prevalent concerns in the design and production methods of various infrastructures at sea. 

As part of its application for an environmental permit for the Princess Elisabeth energy island, and in particular in the accompanying environmental impact report, Elia has paid much attention to limiting the effects of its activities on the marine environment, in terms of the alternatives studied for establishing the energy island and the implementation methods. The design of the island (shape, orientation, etc.) contributes greatly to limiting adverse effects.

To go even further, Elia has chosen to lead the way in a truly Nature Inclusive Design for the energy island. Not only will it minimise all harmful effects on the marine environment, Elia also wanted to seize on this opportunity to add true ecological and environmental value to its project

A unique and innovative co-creation process involving an infrastructure manager and different experts from various institutions, universities, design firms and NGOs has taken place in parallel to preparing the permit application. This process has already provided a very promising outlook that is being studied in detail and refined, with regard to its technical feasibility and cost. 

More information will be available on this subject soon. 

The energy island uses the European Recovery Fund, which is intended to provide the Belgian economy with additional incentives through future-oriented initiatives. Investing in infrastructure is investing in economic growth that strengthens the socio-economic prosperity of our country.