Public consultation on integration of additional offshore capacity - mitigation measures
Topic
Elia launches the 2nd public consultation on its study aiming to analyze the impact of additional installed offshore capacity on the balancing of the system and to formulate recommendations.
The 1st public consultation, held in June-July 2020, focused on the future offshore generation profiles and on analysis of the impact for the grid. The feedback of the stakeholders has been taken into account in the updated report. The consultation report of the 1st public consultation is available on the corresponding webpage.
The 2nd public consultation focuses solely on the mitigation measures (chapter 6). Comments on the other parts of the report will not be considered. The main evolutions in the report has been presented and discussed in a stakeholder workshop held on the 9th of September 2020.
The feedback on this 2nd public consultation will be taken into account towards the final report of the study, which will be published on the 23rd of December 2020 the latest.
Context
The ambition to extend the installed capacity of offshore wind farms from 2.3 GW at the end of 2020 to up to 4.4 GW by 2030 was set by the Belgian government.
The network reinforcements necessary to connect this additional capacity have been identified in the Federal Development Plan 2020-2030 and the related projects have been started by Elia.
In addition to these grid reinforcements, certain system aspects have been identified that require further study, such as the impact on the balancing of the system (including reserve requirements). As indicated in the past, the mechanism established to manage the impact of storms on the balancing of the system was developed in the context of an installed offshore capacity growing to 2.3 GW. The question therefore arose whether the current mechanism is indeed sufficiently robust for an additional growth to up to 4.4 GW or whether additional or alternative measures are needed.
If proven necessary, recommended measures could then be included in the tender procedure in the context of the extension of Belgian offshore wind capacity.
Given the timeframe, this study takes into account uncertainties about the future functioning of the market and technological developments by the time the 2nd wave offshore capacity will be commissioned. During the study in 2020, Elia engaged in a discussion with stakeholders on the assumptions defined in the study, the methodologies used and the impact of the identified potential mitigation measures. An update of the study will be performed before the tender procedure in order to confirm and calibrate the measures defined.
Period
Elia invites the stakeholders to provide comments and suggestions on the consulted document via the online form below during the consultation period from Thursday 1st of October 2020 to Sunday 1st of November 2020.
