The world’s first artificial energy island is being built off the coast of Belgium and will serve as future interconnector between countries as well.Since September 2023, a team of 300 staff is busy every day at a construction site in Flushing, the Netherlands.
However, supporting infrastructure is also needed to direct the renewable energy produced into our homes as production capacity grows. Belgium plans to develop an artificial energy island closer to the wind farms.The facility is 28 miles from the Belgian coast. It is partly financed by the European Union’s COVID-19 recovery fund, which awarded it a 100 million euro grant.
To create the artificial energy islands, engineers will use an estimated 2.3 million cubic meters of sand, and the caissons being built will form the outer walls of the island. Made of concrete, each caisson is 187 feet long, almost 100 feet wide, and equally tall. Building one, however, takes three months, with the production process split into five stages, each taking 20 days to complete.