Planning Consent Awarded

According to an EIB project summary for the Princess Elisabeth Island electrical infrastructure, the competent authority issued an environmental permit for the project on 26 September 2023, following an Environmental Impact Assessment procedure carried out under Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU. The permit authorises the construction and operation of the offshore energy island and its associated grid infrastructure approximately 45 km off the Belgian coast in the North Sea. The environmental permit covers the Modular Offshore Grid 2 (MOG II) programme, which includes both HVAC and HVDC transmission infrastructure on and connected to the artificial island. The EIA process evaluated impacts on the marine environment, Natura 2000 sites, navigation, fisheries, and visual amenity. Elia Transmission Belgium, as project promoter, submitted the environmental permit application on 9 January 2023 and the competent authority granted the permit approximately eight months later. This permit is a key regulatory milestone enabling physical construction works to proceed, with offshore caisson installation and civil works subsequently commencing in 2024 under the TM Edison consortium (Jan De Nul and DEME).