Belgium

Belgian grid operator Elia has published a vision paper explaining how it intends to link consumers’ behavior at lower voltage levels with price signals in the wholesale electricity market, thus also enabling better integration of renewables.

Construction on the 100 MW Kristal Solar Park is set to start in October. The facility will be located near the town of Lommel, in the Flemish province of Limburg. The project developer, local investment agency, Limburgse investeringsmaatschappij (LRM) said the project will be 34% cheaper than expected.

A new amendment to the region’s energy law allows enterprises to sell power to one other through the so-called direct line model, starting from 2019.

Flanders’ Ministry of Energy intends to make it easier for renewable energy suppliers to sell power to a final customer through a direct connection. This is expected to encourage industrial customers and public entities to increase consumption from clean energy sources.

The funds are part of a €100 million investment plan. The pilot projects will be developed on water surfaces that are not utilized for other purposes.

Belgium market update: Once among Europe’s leaders in solar PV deployment, with more than 1 GW of capacity added in its peak year of 2011, Belgium’s market lost momentum following the abrupt closure of generous subsidy programs. In recent years, driven by its residential PV segment, the country has experienced a solar comeback, which became particularly prominent in the year just passed.

On February 25, Belgium recorded the maximum amount of electricity produced by solar PV. Overall, it acounted for an impressive 21% of the country’s electricity consumption.

A few days after the first grid-connected off-shore solar PV project was announced in the Netherlands, the Belgian government has unveiled plans to make the North Sea a solar energy hub.

Almost all of last year’s newly installed PV capacity comes in the form of residential PV systems not exceeding 10 kW, installed under net metering.

As the government of Belgium’s French-speaking region has announced the possible closing of the incentive scheme Qualiwatt, claiming that self-consumption is now becoming more profitable, the region’s regulator CWaPE warns that the abrupt cancellation of the incentives may have a negative psychological effect.