The Belgian authorities have agreed on a new applicable support scheme (green certificate) for the 219 MW Northwester-2, 235 MW Mermaid and 252 MW Seastar offshore wind projects with their respective project developers. An updated levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of €79/MWh has been negotiated for the three projects, which represents a significant subsidy reduction compared with the 2016 LCOE of €138/MWh for the C-Power, Belwind, Northwind and Nobelwind offshore wind projects. This figure is also higher than the previous benchmark of €66-76/MWh announced a few months ago. From now on, the government will support the projects over 16 years with an option to extend it for one year in case of poor wind conditions. The projects were threatened of cancellations because the subsidies were labelled as too high by the Belgian government.
With the new €79/MWh scheme, the total savings are estimated at €3.9bn, which is approximately €11/year on the average consumer electricity bill. Belgium intends to decrease the amount of subsidies for the offshore wind industry, a trend similar to other European countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom. Back in 2016, the Belgian authorities decreased the amount of support for the 296 MW Rentel and 350 Norther offshore wind parks by €1.1bn.
The offshore wind project developer Parkwind expects the 224 MW Northwester-2 offshore wind park (Belgium) to reach financial close in 2018 and construction by 2020. Parkwind will run the Northwester-2 facility with a 46% interest, while Colruyt owns 30%, Incontrol 14% and TTR 10%.
Source: Elia