Elia, the Belgian high-voltage grid operator, has awarded three contracts worth almost 1.5 billion euros to construct the High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) infrastructure of Princess Elisabeth Island, an artificial energy island of 3.5 gigawatts located approximately 45 kilometers off the Belgian coast. The infrastructure will bundle 2.1 gigawatts of wind energy and bring it onshore.
Elia awarded three contracts for this purpose: two for installing 330 kilometers of cables and one for constructing high-voltage stations on the island. Two consortia won contracts to lay 165 kilometers of cables: DEME with the Greek Hellenic Cables and Jan De Nul in collaboration with the Korean LS Cable & System.
€1.45 billion contract
The contract for the high-voltage stations goes to a consortium of the Belgian Iemants (Smulders) and the Dutch companies HSM Offshore Energy and Iv-Offshore & Energy. All in all, these contracts worth 1.452 billion euros were awarded through a European tender procedure.
The cables must connect Princess Elisabeth Island with the mainland. The island is needed to import or export more electricity from neighboring countries.
Deme and Jan De Nul
Deme and Jan De Nul jointly won the contract for the construction of the actual energy island at the beginning of 2023, which at the time had a price tag of 600 million euros. The work should be completed by the end of 2026, after which the infrastructure works can start.
On Tuesday, the Flemish and Belgian governments signed energy agreements with Norway to bring Norwegian wind energy to Belgium. Soon, energy from Norway can flow to the Belgian grid via the Princess Elisabeth energy island.
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