Context of the Public Consultation
In order to maximize Belgium’s own renewable electricity production, the federal government has decided to increase the capacity of offshore wind turbines in the second zone, the Princess Elisabeth Zone, to a range between 3.15 and 3.5 GW.
Together with the existing offshore wind farms, the total offshore wind capacity in Belgium can as such increase to 5.8 GW by 2030; almost tripling the current offshore capacity.
In order to reach this total capacity, the installation will take place in two phases:
- A first phase of 0.7 GW will be installed by 2028;
- The other 2.1 GW will be commissioned by the end of 2029.
By 2030, 25% of our electricity production can originate from the Belgian North Sea, saving in total 8.6 million tons of CO2 per year.
In order to receive feedback from the sector and all interested parties on the proposed criteria for the call for tenders for the Princess Elisabeth Zone, a public consultation was organised at the beginning of 2022. The public consultation ran from 17 January 2022 to 18 February 2022. The consultation was very successful and numerous reactions were received.
Reactions from the public consultation
The sector and all interested parties have had the opportunity to submit their feedback for the granting of the domain concessions in the Princess Elisabeth Zone. This input is currently being used to develop a solid proposal for the tender.
