“Belgium and UK need to collaborate more than ever on renewable energy” | Inland

The UK today has a capacity of 10 gigawatts of offshore wind turbines, with the goal of increasing it to 50 GW by 2030, accounting for more than half of the country’s electricity. “We can’t do this alone, we need to work together more than ever,” Whittington said.

This is also confirmed by Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Green). “Together we can turn the North Sea into one large power plant. In this way we can build a sustainable future and create opportunities for companies.”

The Belgian capacity of wind turbines at sea is currently 2.2 gigawatts. In a second zone, the Princess Elisabeth Zone, an additional 3.5 gigawatts of capacity will be added. The Belgian figures seem low, but our coast is also small, according to Minister Van der Straeten.

The minister signed a letter with her British counterpart Greg Hands in February memorandum of understanding on strengthening energy cooperation. This included, among other things, that a second power cable will be built between the two countries, in addition to the existing interconnector Nemo-Link.

“Our countries have already shown in 2019 that cooperation pays,” says Chris Peeters, CEO of grid operator Elia. “Nemo-Link was a first in many areas: it was the first electrical connection between the UK and Belgium and Elia’s first project. at sea. It is the most successful interconnector of its kind in the world.”

According to Peeters, Europe can indeed develop sufficient renewable energy by 2050. However, this is only possible if we accelerate the expansion of renewable energy by a factor of three, increase efficiency and build more interconnectors. Today, Elia is working on two of those connections: Triton Link, between Denmark and Belgium, and the Nautilus hybrid interconnection with the UK, which will be connected to the offshore wind farms at sea.