Market Trends of Belgium Wind Energy Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Belgium Wind Energy Market according to our research experts:
Offshore Wind Energy is Expected to Drive the Market
- As energy demand is rising, significant companies are adopting renewable energy as it can provide clean energy. The advancements in offshore wind technologies have drawn several foreign investments.
- By location of deployment, the offshore industry is expected to remain a significant driver of the Belgium wind power industry investments during the forecast period, owing to declining costs and improved technology.
- As per IEA, Belgium ranked sixth in the highest offshore wind capacity in the world. The country had a total offshore wind energy installation capacity of about 2,262 MW in 2021. The government's recent measures towards offshore wind deployment and Belgium'sforts towards combined offshore electricity grid with other North Sea countries will scale up the market shortly.
- Besides this, recently, companies have been able to install taller wind turbines due to improvements in the materials used, which allows the turbines to exploit higher-altitude winds. Also, these new turbines have larger blades and can sweep more area than the smaller turbines.
- A sea-made offshore wind project, the largest offshore wind farm in Belgium, was inaugurated in October 2021, having a capacity of 487MW. The offshore wind farm has an annual generation of about 1.8 TWh which can energize 500,000 Belgian households.
- The growing size of wind turbines has helped lower the cost of wind turbines, indicating that it is economically competitive with fossil fuel alternatives. These recent trends are expected to drive the wind energy market in the country during the forecast period.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
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Technological Advancement of Wind Turbines
- Belgium's government has increased its focus on developing renewable energy sources to reduce carbon emissions in the country. Particularly in wind energy projects, the country witnessed a significant rise in 2021 and reached a total installed capacity of 4780 MW.
- Furthermore, various companies are developing technology to reduce maintenance costs to increase the adoption of wind energy projects. For instance, companies have adopted a permanent magnet generator for the turbine, which results in lesser maintenance costs and higher reliability.
- Also, the growing size of wind turbines has helped lower the cost of wind turbines, indicating that it is economically competitive with fossil fuel alternatives. These recent trends are expected to drive the wind energy market. With the recent technological interventions, the blades stretch out more than 80 meters, the turbine towers more than 105 meters above sea level, and a swept area of 21,124m² intends to provide high efficiency of wind turbines,
- The companies have been able to install taller wind turbines due to improvements in the wind turbine materials used, which allows the turbines to exploit higher altitude winds.
- In 2022, the first subsidy-free wind farm was inaugurated in Belgium at steel producer ArcelorMittal in Ghent. The specifications of the wind farm consist of a rotor diameter of 162 m, a tip height of up to 230 m, and a capacity of 6 MW per turbine, one of the largest wind turbines in Belgium.
- All these technological development are anticipated to drive the Belgian wind energy market during the forecast period.
