To continue its development of sustainable energy projects, Eneco Belgium has taken over shares that Electrabel had in West-Flemish project developer, Eco Flanders.
With this takeover, Eneco Belgium continues its sustainable energy development in Flanders and Wallonia. Eneco is one of the three biggest energy companies in the Netherlands and currently supplies only businesses and industries in Belgium. By way of this takeover it wants to further expand its role in the field of sustainable energy. Eneco realises projects in the field of bio-fermentation, biomass, wind, bio-CHP (combined heat and power) and solar energy.
The takeover of Electrabel’s shares in Eco Flanders goes hand in hand with a thorough restructuring of Eco Flanders, which, supported by Electrabel and other stakeholders, has made quite some progress over the last years in the field of biomethanisation projects and renewable energy. A significant increase in capital will be made and a new team of engineers will be formed. The former Eco Flanders will continue on as Eco-Projects.
Eco-Projects will be responsible for building bio-fermentation installations throughout Belgium. The building of these installations must help Belgium catch up in this segment as regards sustainable energy. Until today, bio-fermentation installations were not a popular renewable energy source in Flanders, mainly due to the strict environmental standards in Flanders (VLAREM) for the disposal of wastewater. The installations built in collaboration with a Belgian team of engineers at Eneco are the only ones in the world that meet these strict standards. The first installation (Diksmuide) is currently in the start phase. The energy supplier plant will build 20 to 40 fermentation installations for industry and agriculture in the coming years. They will be installations of 3 to 6 MW, which means green energy for more than 300,000 families.
"The new start of Eco-Projects should make it possible to continue to rollout professional bio-fermentation and biogas installations," explains Michaël Corten, Director of Eneco Belgium. Besides actually building the installations, Eco-Projects will also be responsible for the commercial development of new installations.