Jan De Nul, DEME get enviro nod for Belgian energy island

Marine companies Jan De Nul and DEME Group NV (EBR:DEME) have obtained an environmental permit for the construction of the world’s first artificial energy island in the Belgian part of the North Sea.

The go-ahead concerns Princess Elisabeth Island which will be situated within the 3.5-GW Princess Elisabeth offshore wind zone. It was granted by Belgium's North Sea minister Vincent Van Quickenborne, according to a recent statement released by Belgian electricity transmission operator Elia Group SA (EBR:ELI).

Elia further noted that it is currently finalising a nature-inclusive design for the energy hub that will be submitted later in 2023.

DEME and Jan De Nul, which won the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for the project earlier this year, have already started preparing for future construction works.

Princess Elisabeth Island will be located about 45 km (30 miles) off the coast. It will bring energy from new offshore wind farms to the Elia onshore grid and will also connect Belgium to Great Britain and Denmark by means of additional interconnectors.

Construction works are set to start in March and take around two years until August 2026.

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