The Lowlands aim to optimize the limited North Sea area for clean energy production.
advertisementBelgium, which has a relatively short coastline, has set ambitious goals to increase its offshore energy capacity through wind power and floating solar panels, the country’s deputy prime minister and North Sea minister said in Brussels today (23 January). told Euronews during an event.
Belgium will triple its offshore wind capacity (which currently accounts for 10% of domestic demand), Poul van Tigchelt said on the sidelines of an event on the sustainable expansion of EU offshore renewable energy organized by WWF-Europe. He said that he hopes to increase the amount soon and reach 8GW by 2040. .
“Renewable electricity production does not necessarily have to be limited to wind energy,” Belgium’s deputy prime minister told Euronews.
While offshore wind projects are being developed in the North Sea, Tigchelt said the federal government is currently evaluating the potential of floating solar technology, a relatively new approach to capturing solar energy. Ta.
The Prime Minister said a pilot project is being built to advance the necessary research on cost and environmental impact, adding that the goal is to build a small demonstration project with a capacity of 5MW by 2026.
“We built these floating solar farms between wind turbines in order to make optimal use of the limited available space, while also making optimal use of the existing capacity to provide electricity onshore. We plan to do so,” Tigchelt said.
The Belgian federal government is currently preparing a tender for a North Sea project that aims to increase capacity by 3,5 GW by 2026. The project is centered around an artificial island in the Princess Elizabeth Sea zone and is designed as follows: This will be the first stage of an integrated European offshore power grid connecting Belgium with Denmark and the UK.