Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022 edition - Flipbook - Page 23
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2022
D.Consequences of delays and
disruptions of the grid connection
system
The Connection Agreement30 and the Access
Agreement31 govern the liability of the TSO.
In the Connection Agreement, the OWF
operator is protected against delays in
completion of the GCS and against
unavailability of the GCS due to technical
failure or poor maintenance. Elia’s liability
is, however, limited to damages caused by its
own grave error, misconduct or intent.
Moreover, its liability is capped to EUR
5,000,000 per claim.32
E.Onshore grid congestions,
prioritisation of renewable energy
resources and compensation
mechanisms
The TSO is under a statutory obligation to
improve its grid to comply with best
available technology and to ensure the
receipt, transmission and distribution of
power from renewable energies, unless the
required measures are commercially
unreasonable. In general, feed-in from
renewable energy sources is prioritised by
law over feed-in from other sources. This
also applies in case of feed-in management
measures.
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VI. Real estate
A. Rights over land to be secured
The Belgian part of the North Sea covers
about 0,5% of the total area of the North Sea
and includes the territorial sea up to 12nm
offshore and the EEZ which extends offshore
up to about 45nm. Within the EEZ, Belgium
can enforce certain rights; for example, in
connection with the exploitation of mineral
resources or the generation of energy, but it
also has the obligation to take care of the
environment.
The zone that can be used for offshore wind
production is regulated by and determined
in the Maritime Spatial Plan (MSP).
The rights over the land of these zones are
granted to offshore wind developers by
Ministerial Decree in the form of domain
concessions.33
For the first offshore wind phase, these zones
were determined by the MSP, enacted in the
Royal Decree of 20 March 201434 and
domain concessions over these zones have
been given to offshore wind developers.
For the second offshore wind phase, these
zones are determined in the MSP, enacted in
the Royal Decree of 22 May 201935.
30 “Connection Contract”, published by Elia on 6 September 2021 (20210905_Aansluitingscontract_CRM_ENG (4).pdf).
31 “Access Contract”, published by Elia on 22 June 2016 20191231_CONTRAT_ACCES_Master_EN (1).pdf).
32 Article 22.1 (Limitation on Liability) (p. 41-42) of the Connection Contract and Article 18.1 (Limitation on Liability) (p. 27) of the Access
Contract.
33 Art. 11 of the Royal Decree of 20 December 2000.
34 Royal Decree of 20 March 2014 establishing the maritime spatial plan.
35 Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing the maritime spatial plan for the period 2020 to 2026 in the Belgian maritime areas.