EU approves €2bn in aid for Belgian offshore wind farm
The European Commission has approved a €2.04 billion Belgian support scheme to build and operate the first offshore wind farm in the Princess Elisabeth Zone in the North Sea, Qazinform News Agency cites Belga News Agency.
The wind farm is expected to have a capacity of up to 735 megawatts and generate up to 2.6 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually. European Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera said the project would strengthen energy independence and support decarbonization.
“The energy we produce here is energy we do not have to import,” Ribera said in a European Commission press release.
The EU had previously approved €682 million in state aid for the project in 2024 under the temporary crisis framework linked to military operations in Ukraine. However, the aid was not granted before the framework’s December 31, 2025, deadline.
Belgium later suspended the tender amid sharply rising infrastructure costs, including those linked to the planned artificial island and Elia’s MOG II project, as well as legal uncertainties. The decision was also intended to limit the impact on electricity network charges.
Belgium subsequently notified the European Commission of a new support scheme under the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework (CISAF). The tender result is now expected in the fourth quarter of 2027.
The newly approved scheme will run for 20 years. Its tender requirements include diversifying turbine supply chains to reduce reliance on imports from outside Europe.
The support will take the form of a two-way contract for difference. The government will compensate the producer when the reference market price falls below the agreed price, while the producer will repay the difference when the market price rises above it.
Under the scheme, aid will be calculated based on the wind farm’s potential electricity production rather than its actual output to the grid. This approach is intended to prevent subsidies from encouraging electricity generation when market prices are negative.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the European Commission had approved €125.81 million in grants for three cross-border renewable energy projects in Germany, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.