Pilot project with solar panels at sea receives 2 million euros

The federal government already decided last year to focus on floating zone panels at sea. Because this technology is not yet fully developed, a pilot project must first be launched.

The Council of Ministers decided on Friday to pump 2 million euros into this. Half a million will go to Belspo, which is responsible for a small-scale ‘proof of concept’ that will be installed this autumn. The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) will receive 1.5 million euros to subsequently realize a larger demonstration project. For the latter, the private sector will also have to contribute financially, it sounds like.

Extra energy

If the pilot project proves successful, the government will increase the budget to 10.5 million euros next year to accelerate the development of the technology. This will be done through a public tender.

The solar panels would be placed in the first offshore wind zone, where they have the potential to generate 1 gigawatt of extra energy, according to Van Quickenborne and Dermine. By way of comparison, the entire first offshore wind zone has a capacity of 2.2 GW. In the long term, the government wants to make optimum use of the space between the wind turbines for solar panels.