First building blocks of Belgian energy island successfully placed in the North Sea
VLISSINGEN (NL) – NORTH SEA (BE) | Construction has begun in the Belgian North Sea on the Princess Elisabeth Island, an artificial energy island located 45 km off the coast. After a successful sea transport operation, the first two of a total of 23 caissons have been submerged at their final location. Caissons are concrete building blocks that form the outline of the future island. In a later phase, the interior will be filled with sand to build high-voltage infrastructure that will connect new offshore wind farms. The work is being carried out on behalf of grid operator Elia Transmission Belgium (Elia) by TM Edison, a consortium of Belgian marine construction companies DEME and Jan De Nul. In the coming decades, the energy island will become an essential part of Belgium’s electricity supply.