Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 13
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2023
Flemish Government agreed to the preferred
route, which will be translated into a preliminary draft regional spatial implementation
plan. The start of construction for Ventilus
is scheduled for 2025. The Ventilus Project
is essential for the realisation of the second
offshore wind phase. Any delay in this project will consequently also cause a delay in
the realisation of the development of extra
capacity for offshore renewable energy. 8
The Federal Minister of Energy further
announced that she will investigate the possibility of additional capacity for offshore
wind in the Belgian North Sea and other waters through the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC), of which she was chairman
in 2021. Per Joint Statement of September
2022, and in line with the renewed Political
Declaration of December 2021, the NSEC
set an ambitious new target to reach at least
260 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.9
13
2. THE OFFSHORE WIND
PROMOTION SYSTEM
2.1 Regulatory framework
Belgium is a federal state. The power to
enact legally binding decisions is not the
exclusive preserve of the Belgian Federal Government and the Federal Parliament. The
federal state is organised along two lines.
The first line was related to language and, in a
broader sense, to everything related to culture.
The result was several communities: the Flemish,
French, and German-speaking communities.
The second line of state reform was historically inspired by economic interests. The
regions, which aspired to more economic
autonomy, conveyed these interests. The
establishment of the three regions was the
result: the Flemish, Brussels Capital, and
Walloon Regions.
The Federal State nevertheless retains
important powers; for example, in the area
of foreign affairs, national defence, justice,
finance, social security, important parts of
national health, domestic affairs, and also
offshore activities. The legal framework for
the development of offshore wind parks in
Belgium is subject to the federal act of 29
April 1999 organising the Electricity Market
(the Electricity Act).
8 "Ventilus: a robust system for bringing offshore power onshore", published by Elia Group (Ventilus (elia.be)); W. Vandorpe, D. Haverbeke en L. Pellens,
"Belgische offshore windproductie – Tendering the way forward, maar hoe exact? Enkele aandachtspunten" in Jaarboek energierecht 2020, K. Deketelaere
en B. Delvaux (ed.), Intersentia, October 2021, 97; "Operation Ventilus Starts in West Flanders", published by offshore wind on 2 April 2019 (Operation
Ventilus Starts in West Flanders | Offshore Wind); "Vlaamse regering geeft groen licht voor voorkeurstraject Ventilus-hoogspanningslijn", published
by VRT nws, 31 March 2023 (Vlaamse regering geeft groen licht voor voorkeurstraject van Ventilus-hoogspanningslijn | VRT NWS: nieuws); "Voortgangsrapportage van het geïntegreerd planningsproces voor het gewestelijk ruimtelijk uitvoeringsplan "Ventilus"", Council of Ministers 31 March 2023
(Beslissingen van de Vlaamse Regering | Vlaanderen.be); "Belgian offshore wind energy", published by FPS Economy with last update on 3 April 2023
(Belgian offshore wind energy -5.4-5.8 GW by 2030 | FPS Economy (fgov.be)).
9 W. Vandorpe, D. Haverbeke en L. Pellens, "Belgische offshore windproductie – Tendering the way forward, maar hoe exact? Enkele aandachtspunten"
in Jaarboek energierecht 2020, K. Deketelaere en B. Delvaux (ed.), Intersentia, October 2021, 99; "The North Seas Energy Cooperation", published by
European Commission (The North Seas Energy Cooperation (europa.eu))
