Wind power

Find out more about our wind farms!

We build our wind turbines in partnership within the companies Wind4Flanders* and Wind4Wallonia**, with a clear focus on those living in the surrounding areas. They are partial shareholders via Electrabel CoGreen.

We are also active in offshore wind energy and build high-voltage power stations for wind turbines at sea. These convert the energy produced from 33kV to a voltage of 220kV, and transport the electricity via an export cable to the transmission network on land.

ENGIE also installs wind turbines for its customers so that they can increase the sustainability of their processes via the local production of green energy.

To realise our targets, we aim to:

• expand our facilities by 40 MW per year.
• optimise the fleet: we are gradually replacing our small, older turbines with more efficient examples, as we did at Hoogstraten and Wondelgem in 2019.
• finalise the Seamade wind turbine project in the North Sea by the end of 2020. This park will produce enough power for 485,000 households, cutting CO2-emissions by up to 750,000 tons per year.
• take part in the next tendering round for future concessions which are located in the Marine Spatial Plan

 
Interesting facts

• It takes around 3-4 years from the consultation phase to the commissioning of a wind farm.
• A well-placed turbine on land with a capacity of 3 MW can produce around 7,000 MWh of electricity in a year. This equates to the annual consumption of almost 2,000 families.
• The average lifespan of a wind turbine is 20 years.

Turning wind energy into electricity

In order to produce electricity with a wind turbine, the wind has to blow (the turbine only starts to turn with a wind speed of 3 m/s and works at maximum capacity with a speed of 12 m/s). But it can’t be too windy! When the wind gets to 25 m/s or above, the wind turbines shut down for safety reasons. The energy production from wind turbines constantly fluctuates. ENGIE uses special software which analyses meteorological data in order to predict production by the turbines as accurately as possible. On the basis of this information, we can engage other energy sources or power stations, if required.

How does it work?

Wind turbine on land (onshore):

•    Currently offering a capacity of 3.5 to 5.6 MW
•    Supplies its full capacity over an equivalent of 2,000 to 2,200 hours (approx. 25% of the time)

Wind turbine at sea (offshore):

• Because there’s more room at sea, larger and more powerful wind turbines can be built. The offshore industry is moving towards wind turbines of up to 12 MW, fitted with rotors with a wing-span of up to 200 m.

• At sea, the wind blows harder and more regularly. Wind turbines offer an average of 4,000 hours at full capacity.

•    The nacelle turns the rotor and the sails automatically into the wind direction.
•    A sail on an onshore wind turbine can be up to 75 m long. The sails on offshore wind turbines can measure up to 100 m.
•    The nacelle can be reached via the hollow mast. At the foot of the mast, there is the transformer which increases the voltage of the generated power.
•    Once the wind starts to move the sails, the gearbox converts the rotor’s low revolution speed into the high revolution speed of the generator.
•    The generator converts this kinetic energy into electricity.
 
Did you know? At a distance of 500 metres, the noise from a wind turbine doesn’t exceed that of a library.

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_{*Wind4Flanders is a collaboration between Zefier, IKA and I.B.E.G. It is a 50/50 partnership whereby Electrabel takes on the operational activities.
**Wind4Wallonia is a collaboration between Electrabel and 5 interurban organisations (IBW, IDEFIN, IEG, SOFILUX and IPFH which combines IDEA, IDETA and IGRETEC). In essence, it is a 50/50 partnership whereby Electrabel takes on the operational activities.}