Late Development Other

On 4 February 2025, Elia Transmission Belgium's Board of Directors decided to temporarily postpone signing HVDC converter contracts for Princess Elisabeth Island, directly delaying the Nautilus hybrid interconnector to the UK by approximately three years. Elia had been negotiating for two HVDC converters — one on the island and one on the Belgian coast — which are required both to connect the third Princess Elisabeth wind farm (1,400 MW) and to enable the Nautilus interconnector. The international tender revealed an overheated HVDC supply chain with significant price increases driven by scarcity of HVDC infrastructure, rising material costs, and inflation. Although the supplier's terms were comparable to those offered to other European grid operators, they were substantially higher than Elia's initial estimates. The chosen supplier had set a mid-February 2025 deadline to award the contract. Elia stated that making a unilateral decision without further political support in the current exceptional HVDC market conditions would be inappropriate, given that the cost increase would ultimately be borne by Belgian grid users. The postponement allowed the Belgian government more time to weigh the reference design (AC + DC infrastructure with Nautilus hybrid interconnector) against alternative concepts that had become more favourable under changed market conditions. Construction of the artificial island and HVAC contracts continued unaffected, securing 60% of the Princess Elisabeth wind zone.