Princess Elisabeth Island
The Princess Elisabeth Island is an extension of the electricity grid in the North Sea. It connects wind farms from the sea to the mainland and creates new connections with neighbouring countries.
Development of an electricity grid at sea
The energy island is a world first. This is an electricity hub where cables from both the 2nd offshore wind zone (Princess Elisabeth Zone) and future interconnectors with other European countries such as the United Kingdom and Denmark will arrive.
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Schedule- 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.
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In the interest of societyThe 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.
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EnvironmentThe energy island is an artificial island on which mainly high-voltage equipment will be located. In developing this island, Elia pays particular attention to mitigating potential negative impacts on the marine environment and in particular on the nearby Natura 2000 site. Together with experts, Elia is looking for opportunities to create new habitats around and on the island, which we call Nature Inclusive Design solutions to optimise the design of the energy island. -
Offshore infrastructures
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A project that will benefit from the European Recovery FundThe 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.
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Documents
News
16 December 2022
The energy island benefits from the European recovery fund
On Wednesday 14 December the Federal Government and Elia Transmission Belgium (Elia) have signed an agreement relating to financial support offered up as part of the Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF). The fund was established by the European Commission in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to support future-oriented investments being undertaken by Member States.
04 November 2022
Elia presents its plans for an energy island, which will be called the Princess Elisabeth Island – 3/10/22
In the presence of federal ministers Tinne Van der Straeten (Energy) and Vincent Van Quickenborne (North Sea), system operator Elia has presented its draft plans for what will be the world’s first artificial energy island.
