Environmental Impact Report and draft Appropriate Assessment for the Modular Offshore Grid 2 (The Princess Elisabeth Island)
The artificial Princess Elisabeth Island (PEI) stretches across an area of 6 hectares and is located 45 km off the Belgian coast in the middle of the Princess Elisabeth Zone (Belgium’s second offshore wind zone). The artificial island is constructed with concrete caissons and filled with sand, and hosts both high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and alternating current (HVAC) infrastructure. The PEI project extends the Belgian offshore transmission grid by connecting new wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea (3.15 to 3.5 GW) with the onshore transmission grid. The PEI is connected to the land by six 220 kV three-phase AC export cables and one HVDC cable system. The initiator of the PEI project is Elia.
The construction and operation of the offshore substation and export cables require an environmental permit and authorization under Belgian law. As a necessary part of a permit application an environmental impact report (EIR) of the planned activities must be carried out. In this EIR, a broad range of alternatives were assessed including 3 different locations for the island, an alternative scenario with a set of 4 platforms, and 4 different routes for the export cables. As parts of the project are located in/near Natura2000 areas, a draft Appropriate Assessment (AA) was also required.
Tasks:
- Writing the Environmental impact report (EIR)
- Writing the draft Appropriate Assessment (AA)
- Performing sediment plume modelling for the dredging works for the island construction and export cables
- Performing the Life Cycle Analysis for the island and export cables
The Princess Elisabeth Island (Elia).
Investigated alternatives in the EIR with different island locations and alternative export cable routes in and near Natura 2000 areas and gravel beds in the Belgian Part of the North Sea.
Modelling erosion and sedimentation around the artificial island.
Plume modelling of dredging activities for the island construction and temporal disposal of dredged material .
