Danish and Belgium transmission system operators (TSOs) have awarded a Dutch company with a contract to deliver consultancy services for an interconnector that will link the high-voltage grids in Belgium and Denmark through two energy islands in the North Sea.
Denmark’s Energinet and Belgium’s Elia have selected Arcadis Nederland BV to deliver marine consultancy for the offshore route development of the TritonLink .
The contract includes the part of the project from the Danish energy island, through the Modular Offshore Grid 2 (MOG 2) energy island in Belgian waters, including a route to Belgian shore and landfall in Belgium. The cable connections from the Danish energy island to the Danish shore are not part of the package.
The scope covers route development, permit planning and support during consultation throughout the whole project up to the final investment decision (FID), as well as support during the route survey and sampling campaign preparation and implementation phases.
The two energy islands will be constructed as artificial island solutions, hosting all required infrastructure to connect offshore wind farms to the islands and further on to an electrical grid.
The Danish North Sea Energy Island will be an artificial island constructed 80 kilometers from the shore of the Danish peninsula Jutland.
Around 200 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 3 GW are planned to be installed in the first phase of the project. At a maximum capacity of 10 GW, the hub will be able to power 10 million European households with clean energy from its surrounding wind farms.
The Danish government recently postponed the decision to initiate the tender for the North Sea Energy Island. The reason behind the move is that the current concept is too expensive, so the government wants to look into other concepts .
Elia’s MOG 2 energy island aims at developing new offshore grid infrastructure to connect new wind farms in the up to 3.5 GW Princess Elisabeth zone to the Belgian national grid via an energy island. The project was given the green light by the country’s Council of Ministers in October 2021.
Completion of the island is expected in mid-2026. From 2026-2027, Elia will start the construction of the electrical infrastructure to connect offshore wind and allow for DC interconnections.