The offshore wind sector has seen tremendous technological advances over the last 10 years. Wind turbines are approximately twice as large, supply up to 10 times as much energy and are placed up to 80 kilometres off the coast. Construction is also a lot faster: in 2012 it took three days to erect one wind turbine at sea, now three wind turbines are installed in one day.

Innovation with respect for the environment

The offshore wind energy sector is making great efforts to protect the marine environment. For example, during the installation of the foundations, specialists build an air bubble-producing sleeve around the piles to dampen the noise during the works.

Aquaculture

The Belgian part of the North Sea is limited in size, so we have to use the available space sparingly. This limitation forces the marine sector towards innovative solutions such as aquaculture in wind farms.

Several Belgian companies, wind farm operators and knowledge institutions joined forces. The result was a pilot installation in the C-Power and Belwind wind farms, where we became the first country in the world to harvest high-quality mussels in a safe manner.