On Tuesday, August 4, the Brabo III high-voltage line in the Port of Antwerp was officially opened, with the Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (N-VA) and Dutch Minister Rob Jetten in attendance.
Elia and TenneT have inaugurated the Brabo project – an upgrade to the electricity interconnection between Belgium and the Netherlands – in the Port of Antwerp.
Kinrooi-Maasbracht
High-voltage grid operator Elia and its Dutch counterpart TenneT also plan to reinforce the power connection via Limburg to eliminate bottlenecks at the border.
They are jointly investing up to €280 million to reinforce the high-voltage connection in Limburg between Kinrooi in Belgian Limburg and Maasbracht in the Netherlands, and aim to bring the upgraded connection into service by 2035.
Combined with the Antwerp corridor and the planned Kinrooi-Maasbracht reinforcement, the total theoretical exchange capacity could eventually reach approximately 5.2 GW.
Earlier dispute
The Limburg project recalls an earlier dispute surrounding RWE’s Claus C gas-fired power station in Maasbracht. Belgium previously considered connecting the 1,304 MW plant directly to its own grid through Kinrooi.
Under that proposal, Claus C would have been disconnected from the Dutch electricity system and placed in the Belgian control zone. That would have allowed the plant, although located in the Netherlands, to participate in Belgium’s capacity remuneration mechanism.
Finally, the Dutch authorities rejected the project. With the new Kinrooi-Maasbracht plan, both countries are expanding the shared infrastructure through which electricity can move in either direction.
Energy security in uncertain times
The demand for electricity will only continue to rise in the future, driven by the electrification of the vehicle fleet as well as the industrial shift away from fossil fuels toward electricity. It is therefore important that we are able to meet the needs.
We must strengthen the network and foster exchange. The new high-voltage line is designed to offer energy security in uncertain times, to strengthen the electricity grid around the port and facilitate the exchange of electricity with the Netherlands.
Brabo III is the third and final phase of a major high-voltage project, which high-voltage grid operator Elia launched in 2013, comprising the reinforcement of high-voltage lines, underground cables, and the connection between the left and right banks.
The project involves an investment of 350 million euros for a 35-kilometer section of Belgium’s high-voltage grid between the Mercator substation in Kruibeke and the Zandvliet substation near the Dutch border.
The most visible part of the project is the new electricity crossing over the Scheldt near Lillo. Its 192-meter pylons are the highest electricity masts in the Benelux and allow even the largest ships to pass underneath the cables.
Best for both
Brabo effectively completes a high-voltage ring around the Antwerp port area. It should make more electricity available to industrial companies seeking to electrify their production processes, while also improving Belgium’s connection with the Dutch grid.
Together with reinforcements already completed by Dutch grid operator TenneT, the corridor can now exchange up to approximately 2.8 GW between Belgium and the Netherlands.
For both countries, the wider strategy is about making their energy systems more resilient while smoothing out differences in electricity availability and prices.
Energy independence
A large European electricity grid is important for achieving energy independence and offers many benefits. It ensures greater certainty regarding supply, affordability, and sustainability.
Electricity can flow from places where more energy is available – and where production capacity is therefore cheapest – to places where demand is highest. This effectively keeps prices under control and makes us more resilient to spikes and fluctuations. Moreover, surpluses of renewable energy can also be distributed among different European countries.
“Cross-border infrastructure must be built; this is vitally important for both countries,” said Prime Minister De Wever (N-VA). Dutch Minister Rob Jetten agrees.
“The port areas of the Netherlands and Belgium are crucial not only to our own economies but also to all of Northwest Europe. Energy plays a pivotal role in this – something that is particularly evident given the pressure caused by the various ongoing wars.”
