The European Commission has approved Belgium's governmental plans to grant €3.5bn support for three domestic offshore wind parks. According to the EC, this support measure will not not distort competition in the EU Single Market. The three concerned projects are namely 235 MW Mermaid, 252 MW Seastar and 219 MW Northwester-2, which are all located in the Belgian territorial waters of the North Sea.
In July 2018, the European Commission also approved the restructuring of ownership over the Seastar and Mermaid offshore wind parks, which will both be operated by a joint venture (JV) called Seamade and owned by Otary, Eneco and Engie (through Electrabel). Previously, Otary owned 100% of Seastar and 65% of Mermaid, with Electrabel owning the remaining 35%.
In October 2017, the Belgian authorities agreed on a new applicable support scheme (green certificate) along with an updated levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of €79/MWh for the projects.