The Belgium government has announced it will double the area of its North Sea waters made available for the development of offshore wind farms after 2020. The decision is part of its exit strategy from nuclear power.
The country has currently four offshore wind farms with a total capacity of 871MW. Belgium wants to increase that capacity to 2.2GW by 2020 and to 4GW by 2030. After 2020, the government plans to designate a new, 221-square-kilometre area of its North Sea waters near French waters. Belgium’s two nuclear power plants, at Doel and Tihange with a total capacity of 6GW are earmarked for closure by 2025.
