Elia is seeking for a contractor to erect offshore infrastructures off the Belgian coast in order to connect the wind farms in the Belgian North Sea. The contract stipulates the possibility of land reclamation and/or the possibility of contracting an offshore platform.
Namely, the grid operator in Belgium is legally obligated to connect offshore wind turbines to the grid.
Because of this fact, earlier this year, Elia announced that they will invest around EUR 3 billion in grid development over the next 10 years.
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, October 19, 2012; Image: bowind