Belgian developer EnergyVision has revealed plans to build a €35 million ($37.9 million) 40 MW solar power plant at Ostend-Bruges Airport. The project includes 66,200 solar modules, each with a power of 605 W. Construction is scheduled to begin in September.
Ground-mounted solar installations face challenges in Belgium, as strict regulations prohibit the development of solar energy on agricultural land. Currently, the country has limited operating small-scale solar parks and a 100 MW solar power plant built by Engie in 2019, which supplies electricity to the Belgian grid.
Despite Belgium’s challenging utility solar landscape, EnergyVision has unveiled plans to build a 40 MW solar power plant at Ostend-Bruges Airport in the Flanders region. The construction of the project worth 35 million euros will start in September. It has 66,200 solar modules with individual outputs of 605 W. The solar power plant will supply electricity to the airport without a specified completion date.
“However, with an annual electricity production of almost 37,000 MWh, the airport produces much more electricity than it can consume itself,” EnergyVision said in a statement. Therefore, part of the green electricity produced is directed to Antwerp Airport (Deurne) and the rest directly to local residents.
“Soon the residents of Oostende – families but also (small and medium-sized) – will be able to register and buy the produced electricity preferentially, at a fixed price, without price increases and in the long term, said in the press release. EnergyVision CEO Maarten Michielssens.
Michielssens added that the company is now establishing a platform that allows citizens to co-invest in the project in the form of an eight-year loan with a fixed annual interest rate of 5 percent.
