Sailing through our Belgian wind farms is strictly prohibited. But why is that? Who draws up the intrusion rules? And which organisations keep tabs on the wind farms? Jeroen Van Overloop, policy adviser for the North Sea and Maritime Safety at the Belgian Shipping Authority, answers all our questions. Read More

In late 2024, the Board of Directors of Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) welcomed a new chairman. Mathias Verkest took the helm from François Van Leeuw, whom we sincerely thank for his years of dedication. Our new chairman is looking forward to building the Belgian offshore wind industry and keeping it on the agenda. Read More

The Flemish Wind Energy Association (VWEA), Federation of Renown Energies (EDORA) and Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) are celebrating Global Wind Day together with their members on 15 June 2024. In doing so, they are drawing extra attention to the importance and potential of wind energy. Wind energy should rightly be… Read More

In recent years, EnergyVille has been researching the optimal way to achieve a climate-neutral Belgium by 2050 at the lowest societal cost. In the study Paths2050, it is shown that investments in offshore wind are no regret options in all scenarios as access to additional offshore wind enables early electrification… Read More

WindEurope’s recent report highlights significant strides in Europe’s wind energy sector, with a record 16.2 GW of new onshore and offshore capacity installed in 2023. Despite this progress, challenges persist, particularly in the timely expansion of Europe’s electricity grids. However, with political support evident in the endorsement of the EU’s… Read More

We can learn a lot from offshore wind energy. It is a dynamic world that is constantly evolving and innovating to contribute to a sustainable and green future. Therefore, Belgian Offshore Platform believes it is important to work together locally and internationally on ways to train professionals already working in… Read More

The Belgian wind farms (Mermaid, Nobelwind, Belwind, Seastar, Northwind, Rentel, C-Power, Northwester 2 and Norther) on the North Sea are looking back with satisfaction on a successful year in terms of wind supply and energy production. During the past year, Belgian wind farms in the North Sea have experienced a… Read More

The European Commission published the Wind Power Package in October. Fifteen direct actions that ensure that the competitiveness of the European wind value chain can be strengthened. The European Commission and the European Investment Bank have already delivered their part of the package. But most of the actions fall under… Read More

Do you want to stay informed of all the news in the Belgian offshore wind industry? Sign up for our newsletter! Each three months you will receive an overview of the latest news, interesting articles, events in the (Belgian) offshore wind industry and the latest news… Read More

The winter months traditionally provide the best production figures. Due to the higher wind speeds and the absence of windless days, the wind turbines run at a higher capacity on average. The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) predicted that wind gusts of 120 to 150 kilometres per hour may occur on… Read More

Brussels, 9 October 2023 Starting the 1th of October 2023, Bérénice Crabs took up her position as Secretary General of BOP. She succeeds Annemie Vermeylen, who held this position for ten years. As former Secretary General of Estela (European Solar Thermal Electricity Association) and Synergrid, Bérénice Crabs has in-depth knowledge… Read More

The World Wide Fund For Nature (WFF) recently released the study ‘Blowing in the wind’, which provides an overview of the current onshore and offshore wind energy situation and projects for 2030 in Europe. According to WWF, Belgium’s 2023 ambitions in the field of wind energy are in line… Read More

Brussels, 4 October 2023 BOP deeply regrets the rushed conclusions of the short feasibility study on the possible planning of renewable energy zones in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Offshore wind energy is indispensable in order to reach the objectives of the Belgian Climate Plan, without the large… Read More

Ostend, 24 April 2023 “How to turn bad weather into net zero energy.” Nine Heads of State & Government and the President of the EU Commission meet today in Ostend to agree new commitments on the build-out of offshore wind in the North Seas. The… Read More

No excess profits for offshore wind farms in 2022 Offshore wind production in 2022 All eight wind farms in the Belgian North Sea have been fully operational since December 2020. This means that 2022 is the second year with fully installed generation capacity for this major Belgian power plant. During… Read More

For Belgium, the only way out of the energy crisis is structural energy saving and a greater commitment to renewable energy. Sun in the summer and wind in the winter can help citizens and companies achieve more energy autonomy and thus contribute to structural control of energy costs. Read More

Wind energy in the North Sea to accelerate energy transition and increase energy independence The Belgian Offshore Platform invites the Prime Minister and the ministers of North Sea and Energy for an offshore wind working visit. Ostend – 13 may 2022 With almost 3,500… Read More

Monthly production exceeded the 1 TWh mark for the first time. February 2022 thus easily surpassed the previous monthly record (878 GWh) of October 2020. The 8 wind farms on the Belgian North Sea produced 14.3% of Belgium’s electricity demand. The turbines on land generated 676 GWh. In… Read More

Offshore wind production in 2021 2021 is the first year in which the offshore wind energy zone, located between 23 and 54 km from the coast, has become fully operational. As of the end of 2020, the operational wind capacity in the Belgian North Sea amounts to 2,262 MW, which… Read More

After ten years of construction and gradual completion of wind farms in the Belgian North Sea, the provisional maximum capacity of 2,262 GW was reached in 2020. The 399 installed wind turbines now generate 8 TWh on an annual basis. This is sufficient to meet the electricity demand of 2.2… Read More

In the presence of Prime Minister De Croo and two other members of the federal government, the SeaMade wind farm was ceremoniously inaugurated in Ostend on 20 October 2021. SeaMade is the most recently completed and largest wind farm in the Belgian North Sea. Read More

Brussels, 24 June 2021 – The Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) and 4Sea (Bond Beter Leefmilieu, Greenpeace Belgium, Natuurpunt and WWF-Belgium) are jointly convinced that the development of wind energy in the Belgian part of the North Sea can benefit both nature and climate, provided that the necessary measures… Read More

On the eve of Global Wind Day, the Belgian renewable energy federations (EDORA, ODE and BOP) would like to remind that almost 20% of the electricity consumed in Belgium today comes from wind or solar photovoltaic installations. With almost 11 GW of installed wind and photovoltaic solar energy… Read More

Brussels 1 June 2021 – In recent years, there has been an acceleration in the implementation of the UN Paris Climate Agreement (2015) in Europe but also worldwide. The European Green Deal (2019), the EU Offshore Strategy (2020), the EU Climate Law (2021), the… Read More

The first wind energy zone in the Belgian North Sea has been fully built within the set timeframe. The last two wind farms in this zone, Northwester II and SeaMade, were built and commissioned in spring and autumn 2020 respectively. With these two new wind farms, 8 wind… Read More

With the installation of Northwester 2 in May Belgium reaches 1,775 MW installed capacity and outranks Denmark as 4th offshore wind energy producer worldwide. The frontrunners are the United Kingdom with 10,428 MW, followed by Germany with 7,659 MW and by China with around 7,000 MW. Denmark followed… Read More

The Board of Directors of the Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) has appointed François Van Leeuw as chairman of the BOP. He succeeds Jaak Rutten who has been chairman for the past four years. Jaak has retired a few months ago. François Van Leeuw is co-CEO of Parkwind,… Read More

This winter (Nov 2019 – March 2020), offshore wind energy covered ±9% of total electricity demand, which represents a 50% increase over the annual average in 2019. Each year, wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea generate an above-average amount of green electricity in winter. Read More

February 2020 was a record month for wind energy in the Belgian North Sea : 804 GWh production (nb: measured at the Elia grid connection point) ; This corresponds to the annual consumption of 230,000 households (at 3,500 kWh/year/family) ;   This absolute record of offshore wind power production is… Read More

Throughout Sunday, electricity was produced in the Belgian North Sea, but due to circumstances not at the maximum production of 1550 MW. The smallest wind turbines have automatically shut themselves down. The more recent and larger wind turbines were able to cope with higher wind speeds and kept running. At… Read More

There are currently six operational wind farms with a total capacity of 1,556 MW in the Belgian part of the North Sea: C-Power, Belwind, Northwind, Nobelwind, Rentel and Norther. In 2019, these farms produced 4.6 terawatt hours of electricity, which represents about 6% of Belgium’s total electricity consumption,… Read More

In April 2009, the first 6 wind turbines of the C-Power offshore wind farm started producing the first sparks of green electricity from the Belgian North Sea. The sixth wind farm, Norther, began producing electricity in 2019, bringing the total production capacity to 1556 MW. Belgium has thus… Read More

On June 20, 2019, in Esbjerg, Denmark, North Sea Ministers signed a joint declaration setting an ambitious target of 450 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050. The contribution of offshore wind energy is indeed essential to make the energy sector carbon neutral by 2050. The… Read More

The Belgian Offshore Platform hands over 2019-2024 memorandum to the Prime Minister With six offshore wind farms and a 1,556 MW production capacity, Belgium is a world leader in the offshore wind industry today. The construction of the sixth wind farm, Norther, with a capacity of 370 MW, is progressing well. Read More

Five wind farms with a total capacity of 1,186 MW are currently operating in the Belgian part of the North Sea: C-Power, Belwind, Northwind, Nobelwind and Rentel. In 2018, these farms produced 3,408 gigawatt hours of electricity. This corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of around a million… Read More

Brussels, 7 December 2018 – The federal government approves the North Sea plan proposed by Secretary of State De Backer. The Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP), the organisation representing the wind energy sector in the North Sea, is pleased to note the new zones for offshore wind energy. More offshore… Read More

To mark the start of the United Nations climate summit in Katowice on 3 December, a climate march will take to the streets of Brussels on 2 December. By joining the march on 2 December, the sustainable energy federations APERe, Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP), EDORA and ODE want to emphasise… Read More

The fifth wind farm in the Belgian part of the North Sea started to produce electricity this summer. As a result, the number of families supplied with electricity has now passed the 1.2 million mark. To celebrate and showcase this important milestone, the Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) organised a visit… Read More

Did you know that, as of late 1,000,000 families are already using green electricity from North Sea wind farms? Test your knowledge of offshore wind energy and have a chance of winning a boat trip for two to the North Sea wind farms: http://eolienenmer.be/ (French) or… Read More

In 2017 in the Belgian part of the North Sea, 2,867 gigawatt hours of electricity was produced, enough to satisfy the average electricity consumption of around 800,000 families. In the second half of 2018, Rentel – the fifth wind energy project, presently under full construction – will also start producing… Read More

After more than a year of uncertainty about the investment climate for the Mermaid, Northwester 2 and Seastar wind farms, the federal government decided on 27 October 2017 to continue supporting the further development of offshore wind in the North Sea. The three farms will be constructed on the basis… Read More

An opinion poll conducted by Kantar TNS between 30 June and 7 July 2017 has revealed that almost nine out of ten Belgians (87.3%) think the Belgian government must respect its obligations in relation to the 2020 climate target. This demonstrates the Belgian population’s clear awareness of the importance and… Read More

The inauguration ceremony of the fourth wind farm off the Belgian coast – Nobelwind – took place on Wednesday 24 May in Ostend, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Kris Peeters. The 50th and final turbine in the wind farm, around 45 kilometres from the Zeebrugge shore, was connected… Read More

Prime Minister Michel said yesterday in the Belgian House of Representatives that “failure is not an option in the fight against global warming.” The offshore wind-energy sector is pleased to hear that Prime Minister Michel remains resolute in backing climate targets. Offshore wind energy has a crucial role to play… Read More

Ghent University and the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Instituut voor Landbouw- en Visserijonderzoek; ILVO) are partnering with the Belwind and C-Power wind farms in a collaboration also involving the companies Brevisco, Colruyt Group, DEME… Read More

On 8 February 2017, Belgium’s Federal Secretary of State for the North Sea, Philippe De Backer, launched an initiative to review the marine spatial planning (MSP) for our part of the North Sea. The current marine spatial plan – a veritable trailblazer within Europe – was accepted in 2014 and… Read More

The Belgian offshore wind industry had grown in just a few years’ time to become an important new industrial sector, which in due course will create between 15,000 and 16,000 new jobs. Wind energy at sea also has a positive impact on the country’s gross national product, the international balance… Read More

The construction of Belgium’s largest wind turbine park can now actually get underway. Following approval by the European Commission of the government’s state support proposals, the Norther project has now successfully completed its financing arrangements and all the necessary contracts have been signed. The start of the offshore work is… Read More

Rentel NV has reached financial close for the realization of a new 309 MW offshore wind park off the Belgian coast. Read More

The Board of Directors of the Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) has appointed Jaak Rutten as chairman of the BOP. He succeeds Jean de Leu, who occupied the chairman’s position for four years and has now been appointed as honorary chairman. Jaak Rutten has been active in the energy sector… Read More

The support cost to society of helping to finance Belgian offshore wind energy production is lower than in neighbouring countries. The gross income from the different projects is also under the European average. These are some of the conclusions from a comparative study carried out by the independent study bureau… Read More

The Board of Directors of the Belgian Offshore Platform (BOP) has appointed Annemie Vermeylen as Secretary-General of the BOP. She succeeds Lut Vande Velde, who has filled the post for the last two years but has now left the association to take on new challenges elsewhere. Read More

The government has today reached agreement about the reform of the state support mechanism for offshore wind. With this agreement, the sector hopes it will be possible to quickly develop a clear, stable and long-term legal framework for the five Belgian wind parks that are planned for completion by 2020. At the same time, the sector is disappointed that a number of important matters still remain unclear, including the connection of these parks to the transmission grid. Read More

Federal Minister of Energy, Marie-Christine Marghem, today jointly opened the EWEA Conference in Paris, one of the most important yearly gatherings of the European wind sector. Her presence in Paris, notwithstanding the reopening of the nuclear power stations in Belgium, can be seen as a positive signal for renewable energy within the context of the energy pact. The minister was responsive to the comments made by the representatives of important players in the Belgian economy (such as Colruyt, Infrabel and Agoria) and promised the development of an energy strategy that would improve the investment climate for wind energy projects. It is to be hoped that we can therefore now look forward to an ‘Energy pact’ that will allow Belgium to fully integrate the economic benefits generated by the renewable energy sector into the country's long-term energy policy. Read More

In the first quarter of this year, the 181 wind turbines in the Belgian area of the North Sea produced 722,000 MWh of renewable energy. This is equivalent to the consumption of approximately 800,000 families during the same period. Read More

Offshore wind energy is playing an increasingly important role in the renewable energy sector. In due course, the production of wind energy at sea will provide a significant proportion of our energy needs, as well as creating many new employment opportunities. Read More

"Each year, more than 9,200 new jobs are created through the development of renewable sources of energy, with a further 2,700 jobs being created for their subsequent exploitation." This is one of the remarkable conclusions of a new socio-economic study published today by EDORA, ODE and BOP. At a time when many questions are being raised about the future of energy, not only in our own country but also in Europe as a whole, this simple conclusion cannot be ignored: there is an urgent need for an energy model based on local production, sustainability and affordability. Moreover, it is a model that would also give a significant boost to the Belgian economy. The renewable energy sector therefore urges our political leaders to continue to pursue the energy transition by setting binding targets for 2030. Read More

In recent months, the operators of the offshore wind turbine parks in the North Sea have completed a preventative maintenance programme in order to ensure that the turbines are in optimal condition before the winter starts. Read More

By 2020, offshore wind energy will supply 10 % of Belgium's electricity needs. A local production capacity and security of supply also serve the wider interests of the Belgian economy. Read More

The remaining ambiguities in the royal decree of 4 April 2014 concerning “the setting up of mechanisms for promoting electricity generated from renewable energy sources”, which was today published in the state gazette, and in particular the uncertainty about the timing of the connection to the electricity grid on the mainland, continue to pose a real threat to the successful realization of the planned wind parks at sea. Read More

An IPSOS survey (commissioned by the renewable energy federations ODE, EDORA and BOP) shows that almost seven out of every ten Belgians has a preference for the use of renewable sources of energy to meet the country's present and future requirements for energy production. Read More

The C-Power wind park, which was officially inaugurated in September of last year, operated at full capacity in December and January, producing in those two months 24% more electricity than was anticipated, thanks to the extremely favourable wind conditions and the high technical reliability of the wind turbines. Read More

Yesterday (19-12-2013), the government reached agreement about the reform of the support mechanism for offshore wind. This brings to an end a period of uncertainty about the future of state aid for the development of offshore wind turbine parks in the North S Read More

This afternoon the Belgian record for the production of electricity by wind power was broken. Grid operator ELIA recorded a production level of 1,200 MW. With a take-up of 9,900 MW, this means that electricity generated by wind power was this afternoon responsible for meeting 13% of Belgium's total consumption. Read More

Kanaal Z (NL) – 23/09/2013… Read More

Parkwind has agreed a strategic partnership with the Japanese industrial group Sumitomo. As a result, the current investors in Parkwind and its management team, as well as the shareholders in Belwind and Northwind, can now count on the support of a strong partner for the future development of their offshore wind parks in the North Sea. Read More

VRT - Eén 14/08/2013: The 7 O'clock News - Wind turbines VRT - Eén 15/08/2013: The 7 O'clock News - Wind turbines Read More