Elia Lands €1 Billion EIB Loan for Belgian Offshore Energy Island
Tue, September 8, 2026 at 5:45 AM GMT+3 3 min read
Elia Transmission Belgium has secured a €1 billion ($1.17 billion) green credit facility from the European Investment Bank for the second phase of the Princess Elisabeth Energy Island, a major offshore grid project designed to connect new Belgian wind capacity and strengthen cross-border electricity flows.
The financing is the largest loan the EIB has ever granted to an energy infrastructure project in the Benelux region, according to the bank. It will help fund the island's high-voltage substations, transformers and alternating-current connections to the Belgian mainland. Elia made an initial drawdown from the facility around the end of July.
The artificial island, located around 45 kilometers off Belgium's coast, is being developed as an offshore electricity hub. Once operational, it will collect electricity from wind farms in Belgium's planned Princess Elisabeth offshore zone and transmit it to the mainland, while also creating the infrastructure needed for a potential future electricity interconnector with the UK.
Belgium is targeting between 3.15 gigawatts and 3.5 GW of additional offshore wind capacity in the Princess Elisabeth Zone. The country currently has roughly 2.26 GW of offshore wind capacity in operation, meaning development of the new zone could more than double Belgium's offshore wind fleet.
The latest financing adds to a €650 million EIB green credit facility agreed with Elia in October 2024 for the island's first phase. That earlier financing covered a project phase whose estimated cost was around €1.1 billion, according to EIB project documentation.
Construction has meanwhile reached another milestone, with the 23rd and final foundation element installed in recent weeks. Work will now continue on the island structure, subsea and mainland cable connections and electrical equipment ahead of planned connections to the first wind farms in the Princess Elisabeth Zone from 2031.
The project remains central to Belgium's offshore wind expansion despite delays elsewhere in the program. The Belgian government cancelled the initial tender for the first 700-MW Princess Elisabeth I wind farm in July 2025 and has been revising the offshore tender framework, including its state-aid arrangements.
For Belgium and neighboring markets, the island forms part of a broader push to turn the North Sea into an increasingly interconnected offshore power system. Combining offshore wind connections with future cross-border transmission capacity could allow renewable electricity to move more efficiently between European markets while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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