Belgium builds world's first artificial energy island

The 6-hectare Princess Elisabeth artificial energy island will use both direct and alternating current and is expected to be completed in 2026.

The shape of Princess Elisabeth Island. Photo: Elia — The shape of Princess Elisabeth Island. Photo: *Elia*

Princess Elisabeth Island is part of the larger Princess Elisabeth Zone, an offshore renewable energy production area in the North Sea, Interesting Engineering reported on April 26. The facility, located 45 km off the Belgian coast, was partly funded by the European Union. It will be an offshore grid, supplying high-voltage electricity in the form of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and alternating current (HVAC). The high-voltage infrastructure on the island will combine renewable energy sources to distribute electricity to the Princess Elisabeth Zone. The island will also serve as a prototype for future grid connections, handling energy exchanges between countries and connecting to new wind farms in the North Sea.

Engineers are using an estimated 2.3 million cubic meters of sand to create the artificial energy island. Since September 2023, a team of 300 workers has been working every day at the construction site in Flushing, Netherlands. They are busy building waterproof diving tanks. Each tank takes three months to complete and is a key part of Princess Elisabeth Island, the world's first artificial energy island.

The caissons will form the outer walls of the island. Constructed from concrete, each caisson is 57 meters long and nearly 30 meters wide. The production process is divided into five stages, each taking 20 days to complete. The most impressive of these is the sliding formwork stage, which creates the caisson walls. The caisson walls grow nearly 10 centimeters higher every hour, and this lasts for 10 consecutive days.

Once ready, the 22,000-ton vessel will be transported by a semi-submersible to a port where it will be placed underwater for temporary storage. Later this summer, the vessel will be transported to the installation site in the North Sea, where construction of the power island will be completed in 2026, after which workers can begin installing electrical equipment.

Princess Elisabeth Island is set to become operational in 2030. As countries seek to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, renewable energy solutions such as wind and solar power are becoming increasingly popular. European countries bordering the North Sea are building large wind farms in cold waters to maximize the power output from strong winds. However, they need supporting infrastructure to transmit the renewable energy produced to people’s homes as capacity increases. That’s why Belgium is building an artificial energy island near the wind farm.

An Khang (According to Interesting Engineering )

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