ABL to support build-out of Belgian energy island

The contract has been awarded by Elia Group – the Belgium electric services company.

The MOG2 project aims to develop offshore grid infrastructure to connect new wind farms in the 3.5GW Princess Elizabeth zone, to the Belgian national grid via an energy hub located on an artificial island. By creating a new connection point for hybrid interconnectors, the island will help to optimise the cost of renewable energy production in the North Sea.

“The MOG2 project is a great project for Belgium and will be key in improving distribution and efficiency in power consumption from the North Sea’s increasing renewable energy sources,” comments Hugues Delanoue, Managing Director of ABL France.

ABL’s scope of work includes the review of all procedural documentation, vessel inspections to assess the suitability of the proposed fleet for transportation and installation (T&I) operations, and on-site attendance to assure operational compliance with the approved procedures. It will cover the T&I for the energy island (a concrete caisson foundation and port), HVAC and HVDC modules and export cables.

“With experience already in numerous interconnector projects and offshore wind T&I offshore Belgium, ABL’s team in Paris possesses the right competence to support the MOG2 project. We are also pleased to have the opportunity to build on previous collaborations with Elia,” continues Hugues Delanoue.

“We’re really pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with ABL acting as Marine Warranty Surveyor in supporting the development of the Princess Elisabeth Island project. The ABL team’s independence and significant experience across subsea cables and renewable energy infrastructure T&I will help us to drive safety, efficiency and optimisation throughout our project” added Pierre-Yves Guillermin, Elia Package Manager for Princess Elisabeth Island.

Belgium is one of the four EU countries that recently announced the target of increasing the joint offshore wind capacity to 120 GW by 2030, and to 300 GW by 2050. When built to full capacity, Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth wind farm zone will raise the country’s installed offshore wind capacity from the current 2.26 GW to 5.8 GW by 2030.

ABL’s team in France will manage the project supported by subject matter experts from the wider ABL Group. The company has not disclosed the value of the contract. The project is expected to last until 2030.

ABL, which is part of Oslo-listed ABL Group ASA, is an independent energy and marine consultancy specializing in solutions to de-risk and drive the energy transition across renewables, maritime and oil and gas sectors. ABL’s diverse portfolio in energy transition engineering and consulting includes involvement in more than 40 hydrogen projects as well as experience in carbon capture and storage (CCS).

ABL’s French operation also benefits from the expertise of sister company Innosea, a specialist consultancy in marine renewable energies, based in Nantes.