Ostend mayor Bart Tommelein has launched the construction of Belgium’s second-largest solar park, which is to be located at Ostend-Bruges Airport.
This project will be executed by the energy company EnergyVision. The solar park in West Flanders will cover a total area of 303,864m2. The annual solar energy production will save approximately 9,600 tons of CO2.
Over the next two years, the energy company plans to install several tens of megawatts of solar panels. Over the next few months, 60,000 solar panels will be installed next to the runway, providing the airport and Ostend households with their first green energy, starting in September 2024. By spring 2026, all panels will be installed and connected, enabling 10,000 households to receive green energy. Nearly 37MWp is planned for Ostend-Bruges Airport.
Eric Dumas, CEO of Ostend-Bruges Airport, commented, “Construction of the solar park on our airport site has just begun. By spring 2026, when all the panels are installed and connected, more than 37,000MWh of electricity will be produced annually. Initially, the generated energy will be used to power the entire airport site.
“Thanks to this project, the airport will operate on 100% green energy. This is an important step toward our goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. The remaining electricity will supply 10,000 nearby households. It is crucial for us that our neighbors benefit from locally generated energy. If everything goes well, the first households can enjoy green energy starting in September. By this autumn, there will be enough operational solar panels at the airport to generate 10MWp of power.”
Solar batteries
According to EnergyVision, the location of the new solar park is ideal. Most of the land along the runway is unusable for other purposes, and the coastal area offers the best solar insolation in the country. Higher wind speeds at the coast result in less cloud cover and more hours of sunshine. The solar insolation – the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth’s surface – is about 10% higher than in [the Belgian province of] Limburg, for example.
Maarten Michielssens, CEO of EnergyVision, said, “As long as the Ventilus project is not realized, grid connection options are limited, but we are addressing this with large, efficient batteries. With large-scale battery capacity, we can install more solar panels than the current grid connection would allow. Overproduction will be temporarily stored in the batteries. When the sun is not shining, the stored energy will be fed into the grid and distributed to customers. In other words, even when the sun is not shining, Ostend residents can still enjoy solar energy.”
Bart Tommelein, Mayor of Ostend, said, “It is no coincidence that the largest solar park in West Flanders, and also the largest in recent years in our country, is being built in Ostend. Our city has been a leader in the essential transition to sustainable energy for years. For instance, we are the offshore wind hub of the southern part of the North Sea, and the Princess Elisabeth energy island – the world’s first artificial energy island – will be built off our coast. The unique aspect of this project at the airport is that Ostend residents can directly benefit and be part of a sustainable story. To make the energy transition a success, we need to involve citizens as much as possible and give them the opportunity to contribute.”
Citizen participation
The project at the airport not only significantly increases the green energy supply in Ostend but also enables Ostend residents to earn money from it. Through EnergyVision’s website, households can register to purchase generated electricity at fixed prices and choose to invest.
EnergyVision CEO Michielssens stated, “Specifically, we have launched a platform for citizen participation. This means that if an Ostend resident wants to invest in the installation, they can do so through an eight-year loan with a gross interest rate of 5% before withholding tax. With a minimum investment of €250 (US$267), we aim to make this opportunity accessible to as broad an audience as possible, allowing people to invest their savings consciously and sustainably. With this initiative, we hope to make cheap, green, local energy more accessible and achievable for everyone.”
To find out more about EnergyVision’s solar panel project at Ostend-Bruges Airport, click here.