In mid-2015, ENGIE Electrabel decided to raise its terrestrial wind capacity to 400 MW by 2020. Fifteen months later, 40 wind farms and 144 wind turbines were already in service or under construction, making 300 MW. Setting its sights higher seemed a natural step for our subsidiary. As early as 2018, the 400 MW mark should be reached and by 2020 it should be more than 500 MW!

With localities, businesses and local residents

How does ENGIE Electrabel intend to achieve this? Thanks to sustainable partnerships with localities and inter-communal structures (public-private partnerships), but also with businesses. In particular, this is already the case with Infrabel for the Greensky wind farm along the Louvain-Liège high-speed railway line. Or with customer businesses like Umicore and Aurubis which have erected wind turbines on their sites.

Residents are also participating in the deployment of terrestrial wind power. Nearly 1600 of them have already become shareholders of a wind farm since the creation of Electrabel CoGreen, the cooperative for investing in wind farms close to home. The latest to have been opened by the Flemish Energy Minister Bart Tommelein is located at Wielsbeke in the Wielsbeke d’Hooie industrial park.

To reach its objective and keep moving towards more renewable energies, ENGIE Electrabel can also count on ENGIE’s research centres and on the Group’s collaboration with the foremost universities in the country. Among other projects, the academic world is working on the potential for smaller-sized wind turbines.

1 billion KWh of sustainable electricity

With 500 MW of terrestrial wind capacity, i.e. a production of 1 billion KWh/year, 300,000 households will be able to benefit from sustainable electricity. Additionally, this will allow a saving of 440,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year! Figures which highlight our intent and that of our subsidiaries in Belgium to reduce the impact of energy generation on the planet and become a major actor in the energy transition.