Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022 edition - Flipbook - Page 20
20
III. Public law and Regulatory Permits
required for the construction and
operation of the offshore wind farm
and the onshore grid connection19
The construction and operation of the OWF
and connections with the MOG or the
transmission grid require a domain
concession from the Federal Minister of
Energy.
Up until now, the request for the domain
concession for the construction and
operation of OWFs is filed with the Federal
Minister of Energy. The domain concession
is granted by the Minister for Energy.
The CREG and the TSO are required to give
advice on the technical details of the domain
concession request. The procedure for
granting the domain concession takes
approximately 245 working days.
The Minister’s decision is binding and
executable as from its publication in the
HoganBelgium
Lovells
Belgian State Gazette.20 Domain concessions
can be contested before the Council of State
within 60 days following publication. 21
The OWF also has to complete an
environmental permit procedure. The
environmental impact assessment is carried
out by the Scientific Service Management
Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North
Sea (MUMM Scientific Service) based on an
environmental impact report. On this basis,
the MUMM Scientific Service advises the
Belgian Minister competent for the North
Sea on the expected environmental
consequences. The permitting procedure
takes approximately 165 calendar days. The
Minister’s decision will be published in the
Belgian State Gazette. Permits can be
contested before the Council of State within
60 days following publication. When the
domain concession has been granted (see
above), it remains suspended until any
additional required authorisation has been
granted. 22
19 It is to be noted that a submarine cable licence is also required (which will not be discussed in the scope of this edition) (reference is
made in this respect to the terms and conditions set out in the Royal Decree of 12 March 2002 on the detailed rules for installing cables
entering the territorial sea or the national territory or which are installed or used in connection with the exploration of the continental
shelf, the exploitation of the mineral resources and other non-living resources thereof or the activities of artificial islands, installations or
structures under Belgian jurisdiction); C. Degreef and W. Geldhof, “Offshore energy and the Belgian legal framework: All at sea” in
Tijdschrift voor het recht van netwerkindustrieën 2015 (showfile.aspx (kluwer.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, 94.
20 Royal Decree of 20 December 2000 on the conditions and procedure for granting domain concessions for the construction and
operation of facilities for generating electricity from water, currents or winds, in sea areas where Belgium can exercise jurisdiction in
accordance with the international law of the sea (Royal Decree of 20 December 2000); 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, 93.
21 “Application for annulment”, published by the Council of State (Application - Annulment - Administrative litigation - proceedings - Council
of State (raadvst-consetat.be)).
22 Royal Decree of 7 September 2003 on the procedure for the authorisation and licensing of certain activities in sea areas under Belgian
jurisdiction; 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, 93; “Application for
annulment”, published by the Council of State (Application - Annulment - Administrative litigation - proceedings - Council of State
(raadvst-consetat.be)); “Note on the support mechanism for the construction of offshore wind farms after 2020”, published by the CREG
on 20 December 2018 (Z1880NL.pdf (creg.be)); “Offshore wind parks and the maritime ecosystem: 10 years of monitoring”, published by
ILVO on 15 June 2020 (Offshore windparken en het mariene ecosysteem: 10 jaar monitoring - ILVO Vlaanderen); C. Degreef and W.
Geldhof, ‘Offshore energy and the Belgian legal framework: All at sea’ in Tijdschrift voor het recht van netwerkindustrieën 2015 (showfile.
aspx (kluwer.be)).