Needed investments in the power system to bring wind energy to shore in Belgium

Renewable energy sources, and especially wind, take an increasing fraction of the European electric energy generation and they form an important part of the plans of the European commission towards a more sustainable future. Also for Belgium, wind power offers the most important renewable energy potential. Especially offshore wind power projects are booming and more than 2 GW is announced to be installed in the Belgian coastal waters. Of course, this energy needs to be transported to the mainland. At this moment however, the power system near to the coast is not ready to absorb such large amounts of electric power. New investments in transmission lines will be needed but these have been difficult in the densely populated country and further public opposition out of social, environmental and political concern is expected. For this paper, the Belgian situation is examined considering different investment options. A novel optimal investment model based on is used to determine the techno-economic optimal investment policy. Strong emphasis is placed on retaining the current right-of-way.