Second Ventilus report: “Only above-ground option is feasible and realistic”
Bart Somers, Deputy Prime Minister of the Flemish Government is clear on Twitter: de The Ventilus high-voltage line will be installed above ground.
On Monday evening, the chiefs of cabinets of the Flemish vice minister-presidents discussed the report of the German professor Dirk Westermann. His report has twelve pages and mainly puts forward technical arguments, such as the robustness of the network. An argument that was also echoed by Elia. Westermann, at the request of West Flemish mayors and citizen platforms, gave a second opinion on the report by intendant Vloebergh, on the Ventilus line.
“Now focus on preconditions and flanking measures”
Afterwards Bart Somers quickly indicated on Twitter which way it should go now. “The new Ventilus report is in line with the intendant’s previous report and reinforces our belief that only the above-ground option is feasible and realistic. Necessary for achieving climate targets and guaranteeing energy supplies. It is necessary for the renewable energy that we generate in our North Sea to land with a robust network. As far as we are concerned, the conversation with the mayors and the citizens should from now on be about the preconditions and the flanking and compensating measures,” says Somers.
The new Ventilus report is in line with the intendant’s earlier report and reinforces our belief that only the aboveground option is feasible and realistic.
Necessary for achieving climate goals and guaranteeing energy supplies(1/2)— Bart Somers (@BartSomers) Nov 7, 2022
The way to legal protest is open
Professor Westermann’s report is therefore in line with what Open VLD and N-VA put forward in September as the only option. This opens the way for a legal battle. From the citizen platforms, in any case. The West Flemish mayors (especially of CD&V signature) may not simply resign themselves to this.
The Ventilus line is needed to bring the electricity from offshore wind farms ashore. The Flemish government has been investigating for years whether this high-voltage line should be placed underground or above ground. The report by intendant Guy Vloebergh previously showed that it is virtually impossible and very expensive to do this underground and on direct current.
Additional research
But at the request of various action groups and the West Flemish mayors, the government has agreed to an additional investigation into the underground track, although it previously spoke of a ‘double check’. At the suggestion of the mayors, the German professor Dirk Westerman was appointed. He is a professor at the Technical University of Ilmenau and is known as a specialist in underground DC power lines.
Westerman has previously stated that he can study the results of the earlier report, but that he cannot conduct further investigation due to a conflict of interest. His university receives a lot of orders from the German 50Hertz, and is said to be half dependent on their funding. 50Hertz is a subsidiary of the Belgian high-voltage grid operator Elia, which wants the Ventilus line above ground.