A world's first: we build the first artificial energy island
The island connects high-voltage grids and wind farms
The world’s first artificial energy island has been given a place in the Princess Elisabeth Zone, Belgium’s second wind zone in the North Sea. This wind zone, once all wind farms are in service, will have a capacity of 3.5 GW. Via undersea cables, the green electricity is collected on the island, where transformers convert the energy so that it can be transmitted to the high-voltage grid on the mainland.
Connections to the UK (Nautilus link) and Denmark (Triton link) ensure that unused energy can continue to flow and the high-volt age grid does not become overloaded.
As such, the island is part of the European climate and energy goals to realise more than 100 GW of offshore energy capacity by 2030 and to facilitate energy sharing between countries.
Jan De Nul Group helps to build the island
Building the island requires both offshore, dredging and construction works. Our dredgers pave the seabed and rock instal lation vessels create a stable rock bottom on which the concrete elements will be placed. At the same time, our colleagues in the construction department set to work prefabricating caissons on land.
As many as 23 concrete blocks, so-called caissons, with a height of 27 metres will form the outer ring of the island, which has an above-water area of over 14 acres. 10-metre high storm walls on top of the caissons will protect the infrastructure from the harshest possible North Sea conditions.
For this feat, we are currently building the caissons in the port of Vlissingen in five successive stages: base plate, walls, connections for cables, roof plate and finally storm walls. We then sink the caissons and prepare them for transport via the Western Scheldt to their place in the North Sea. By the summer of 2026, the island will be ready for the installation of electrical infrastructure.
Nicolas Beck from Elia is proud of the nature-inspired design
“As the person responsible for consulting with the Federal Government and other authorities and obtaining the permits for the island, I am closely involved in the project. It is a top-notch state-of-the-art project, as we are building something that no one has ever done before us. I am proud to be part of this group, which is not only facing a huge engineering challenge, but also realising something that is in the interest of the whole of our society.
From the start, we wanted this project to also have a positive impact on local biodi versity. Elia sat down with scientists from various fields of expertise and institutes. They suggested several possibilities that we could incorporate.
Subsequently, experts from TM Edison gave their feedback on what would be technically feasible on this scale and in the complex environment of the North Sea. So we went for five feasible solutions with the greatest positive impact.
The combination of all these areas of expertise allowed us to take a big step forward in our learning processes and we will of course use the results for our subsequent projects. With the Princess Elisabeth Island, we’ve set an example, both for the energy transition and nature restoration objectives.”
Five measures
- Storm wall with ledges for the kittiwake
- Relief panels on the caisson walls for small marine life
- Diverse and complex scour protection
- Boulders for an additional layer of complexity
- Gravel beds