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North Sea offshore wind Developments in Belgium and the Netherlands
November 2014
IntroductionOur Energy Team has in-depth experience with (offshore) wind projects in both countries and is at the
forefront of developments in this challenging industry. This briefing sets out the legal framework and
recent developments in offshore wind both in Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the first update to
our October briefing. We expect to publish more updates in the coming months to keep you informed on
important developments.
The NetherlandsOffshore wind in the Netherlands is expected to be a major opportunity in the coming years. The
European and national renewable energy targets have resulted in new legislation coming into force that
must procure an additional 3500MW offshore wind capacity. For this purpose, subsequent licences and
subsidies to build 700MW will be tendered out annually in the years 2015 – 2019, with the first tender
expected to start autumn 2015. The Dutch government has reserved a maximum amount of EUR 18
billion to subsidise this offshore wind target.
Belgium Offshore Wind in Belgium already constitutes a mature market. All currently available domain concessions
in the North Sea have been granted to project developers. Three wind farms, namely C-Power, Belwind
(phase I) and Northwind have already been built – and Loyens & Loeff had in-depth involvement in all
three – and several other wind farms are at the planning stage. For years Belgium has been one of the
European leaders in offshore wind energy; an example of this being the recent installation of one of the
world’s largest wind turbines on the Belwind wind farm, the Alstom 6-MW Haliade™ 150.
The Netherlands
Energy AgreementOn 6 September 2013, around 40 Dutch private and (semi-)public parties reached a covenant on the
development of renewable growth in the Netherlands, the Energy Agreement. The Energy Agreement
implements a comprehensive climate and energy policy programme aimed at long-term sustainability,
and sets out agreed short to medium-term measures in ten ‘pillars’. One if these pillars is the increase of
renewable energy production from the current 4.3% to 14% in 2020.
The long-term goal of a fully climate-neutral (also known as ‘zero-carbon’) energy supply is set for 2050.
Short to medium-term measures and milestones are defined for the period from 2014 to 2023, with
2020 being the year when, in line with the EU Renewable Energy Directive, 14% of gross final energy
consumption shall be produced from renewable sources and 16% in 2023. The central government is
responsible and accountable to Parliament for the adoption, execution and evaluation of policy measures
set out in the Energy Agreement. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend
Nederland, RVO) has been assigned to implement this policy.
This percentage being currently at 4.3%, the requisite steep increase of energy production from renewable
sources calls for a drastic intensification of the deployment of large-scale renewable energy production
(notably onshore and offshore wind) and a further increase of decentralised generation (e.g. solar energy
and biomass) in the coming years.
Offshore wind
On the side of offshore wind energy capacity, the Energy Agreement identifies the need for additional
wind farm projects to be developed to reach a total of 4450MW by 2023 (with 1000MW being in place
or under construction today). Central government allocates a maximum of EUR 18 billion to subsidies
for renewable energy (SDE+, see below) for offshore wind, commensurate with these targets. The full
amount will be committed prior to 2020 to account for a wind farm construction period of 4 years.
New Government Road Map implemented in a new Bill On 26 September 2014, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs (MEA) sent a letter to Parliament which
provided a “Road Map” to the reaching of the targets set in the Energy Agreement. The Road Map has
the following key features:
• New roll-out schedule of 700MW capacity per year for five years
• Offshore grid (‘socket at sea’) planned and operated by TenneT TSO
• Repeal of previously granted licences
• Newly designated licence areas
• New combined application procedure for licence and SDE+
These features form the basis of a new bill on offshore wind that was submitted to Parliament on
16 October 2014 (Wet Windenergie op Zee)1. The bill prohibits the construction or exploitation of a wind
farm in the Dutch territorial sea or the Dutch Exclusive Economic Area without a licence. The bill is
envisaged to enter into force on 1 July 2015.
1 Parliamentary Papers 2014-2015, 34 058.
New roll-out schedule of 700MW capacity per year for five years
The Road Map includes a new capacity roll-out schedule for the period 2015-2019 that deviates from
the roll-out schedule in the Energy Agreement (see table below). According to the new roll-out schedule,
700MW will be tendered out every year, in the years 2015 (Borssele area) to 2019. As a result, in 2023
the aggregate offshore capacity will be 3500MW (i.e. 50MW more than has been agreed in the Energy
Agreement).
Start tender
Schedule Energy
Agreement New Schedule Designated Areas2015 450MW 700MW Borssele2016 600MW 700MW Borssele
2017 700MW 700MW
Hollandse Kust: Zuid-
Holland
2018 800MW 700MW
Hollandse Kust:
Zuid-Holland
2019 900MW 700MW
Hollandse Kust:
Noord-Holland
Total 3450MW 3500MW
Offshore grid
In a policy letter of 18 June 2014, the MEA appointed TenneT as the designated operator of the future
offshore grid. In this capacity, TenneT will be appointed to build five standardised platforms of 700MW each,
that will each be connected to the onshore high voltage grid by two 220kV-cables. Each TenneT platform
will connect two wind farms to the shore. This is expected to be a more (cost) effective approach to connect
the wind farms to the shore than the usual method whereby each wind farm is individually connected to
an onshore substation. We therefore expect that the distance correction factor in subsidy applications
will no longer be relevant. The judicial implementation of the offshore grid operation is part of a separate
legislative program to amend the Electricity Act 1998 and the Gas Act, generally referred to as ‘STROOM2’.
A draft proposal for STROOM2 was open for public consultation until 8 September 2014 and submission
to Parliament is expected to follow shortly in order to have the legal basis for TenneT’s tasks in place per
1 January 2016.
Repeal of previously granted licences
Under current law, nine licences for the construction of a wind farm were already granted in 2009 to various
parties.2 The construction of wind farms in the respective licence areas has never commenced as the
necessary SDE+ funds were not available. Their original expiration date of the licences (Q4 2012) was
extended in January 2012 until 2020. However, according to the new bill, these granted licences will lapse
upon the entry into force of the bill. This is a significant development in comparison to an older text of
the bill in the consultation phase, which included a grandfathering clause for previously granted licences.
2 The holders of the present nine licences are: RWE (Tromp Binnen), Nuon (Beaufort), Typhoon (Clearcamp), Dong
(Breeveertien II, Den Helder and West Rijn) and Eneco (Brown Ridge Oost, Q4 and Q4 West).
The present holders of the ‘old’ licences will lose their licence(s) and will have to participate in the new
application procedure. The present holders of the ‘old’ licences will lose their licence(s) and will have to
participate in the new application procedure.
New licence areas
Pursuant to the Water Act, the MEA and the Minster of Infrastructure and Environment jointly lay down
the national water policy in a ‘National Waterplan’. In the National Waterplan 2009-2015, the government
designated two areas in the North Sea for the erection of wind farms, Borssele and IJmuiden, allowing for
the assessment of potential additional wind farm areas: Hollandse Kust (‘Dutch Shore’) and ‘Ten noorden
van de Waddeneilanden’ (‘North of the Wadden Islands’). The Road Map, however, includes an additional
designation of the areas in the present National Waterplan 2009-2015 and involves: Borssele, Hollandse
Kust Zuid-Holland and Hollandse Kust Noord-Holland.
Pursuant to the new bill, the MEA3 will appoint certain plots (“kavels”) within these three designated areas,
in so-called ‘plot decrees’ (“kavelbesluiten”). A ‘plot decree’ will not only determine the exact location of the
wind farm within the area but will also (inter alea) include:
• A description of required measures aimed at remedying, reducing or compensating the effects of
building a wind farm
• A description of temporary measures and facilities to build the wind farm
• Geographical dimensions of the wind farm and the route of the connection cable
• The results of the soil survey, the ecological soil survey, the archaeological and cultural-heritage
survey and other ecological surveys performed by the State.
The plot decree must thereby provide sufficient information for private parties to choose the best available
technique within the (environmental) constraints applicable and to enable them to optimise their combined
bids for a licence and SDE+.
The Borssele area (as shown in the map below) lies outside the 12 nautical mile zone. In the Borssele
area two plots have been indicated, Borssele I and Borssele II. They are the first two plots that will be
tendered out in autumn 2015.
3 This competence is shared with the Minister of Infrastructure and Environment.
In 2016 Borssele III and Borssele IV will be tendered out, resulting in four wind farms in the Borssele area
with an aggregate capacity of 1400MW (see map below).4
In preparation of the Environmental Impact Assessment, the MEA has announced in the Government
Gazette of 23 October 2014 the deposition of documents with regard to the plots Borssele I and Borssele
II. Interested parties are invited (from 25 October to 4 December 2014) to review these documents and
submit their views.
The Environmental Impact Assessment report will follow shortly upon geophysical and geotechnical
research starting early 2015. A quick scan study by Energy research Centre for the Netherlands5, on the
potential of the Borssele area (June 2014, in English) can be downloaded from the RVO website.6
Another important new aspect is that the delineation of offshore wind areas has been shifted two nautical
miles towards the shore. The delineation of the areas Hollandse Kust Zuid-Holland and Hollandse Kust
Noord-Holland will be enlarged to include the 2 mile strip between the 12 mile zone and the 10 mile zone.
This is expected to significantly reduce the development costs of the wind farms, the connection platforms
and cables, as both construction and O&M will be less complex and less expensive. The new delineation
will be laid down in the new National Waterplan 2016-2021.
4 Plots I and IV are considered the windiest but they are also the deepest which makes construction more expensive.
5 https://www.ecn.nl/home/
6 http://www.rvo.nl/onderwerpen/duurzaam-ondernemen/duurzame-energie-opwekken/windenergie-op-zee/windgebied-
borssele
The map below shows the existing wind farms plus capacity (blue),7 the selected areas (red),8 the
envisaged additional wind energy areas (shaded orange), the envisaged locations of the 700MW TenneT
platforms (indicative), the envisaged tendering year and the procedural steps in the application process
below.9
7 This map includes the wind farms currently under construction. Visible are ‘Amalia’ (Q7, 120MW), the near shore wind farm
‘Offshore Wind Egmond aan Zee’ (OWEZ, 108MW) and ‘Luchterduinen’ (Q10, 129MW). The Gemini wind farm (600MW)
falls outside the scope of this map.
8 From top to bottom: Hollandse Kust Noord-Holland, Hollandse Kust Zuid-Holland and Borssele.
9 The procedural steps described are: 1) The government selects the licence areas; 2) The government designates the exact
location of the wind farm; 3) the applicant submits a construction plan 4) the applicant with the best plan is awarded the
licence and SDE+.
New combined application procedure for licence and SDE+
The licence application procedure will be a combined application procedure for SDE+ and the exclusive
licence to erect the wind farm (‘wind licence’, windvergunning) in a certain licence area. The wind licence
will combine the relevant licences needed under various acts, such as the Nature Conservation Act, the
Flora and Fauna Act and the Water Act. This new regulatory regime should contribute to efficient use of
space, cost reduction and should step up the roll-out. The licence will be granted for a maximum period
of 30 years.
In order to obtain a licence, the applicant must demonstrate that it can meet the requirements set in
the plot decree and that the envisaged construction and exploitation of the wind farm is financially and
technically practicable and economically feasible within the term stated in the licence. Furthermore, the
applicant must demonstrate that building and exploitation meet the plot licence requirements and can
commence within 4 years after the effective date of the licence.
The application for the licence must be submitted to RVO (acting for MEA) during the period in which
the relevant SDE+ application must be submitted. If more competitive applications are submitted for one
licence that are all in compliance with the statutory requirements, the licence shall be issued to the party
to which the SDE+ is granted. Both decisions (licence and SDE+) are taken simultaneously.
SDE+For offshore wind, the Government has reserved a maximum amount of EUR 18 billion for SDE+ to be
granted in the tenders of 2015-2019 and payable over a 15 year period.
SDE+ is an operating subsidy and is granted on the basis of a tendering procedure and is administered
by RVO. SDE+ compensates producers for the unprofitable component of renewable energy compared to
energy from fossil fuels. This is illustrated below (Source: RVO)10 where the ‘Base amount’ represents the
sum of the investment and operational costs plus a reasonable profit, divided by the projected production
volume. The Base amount is set by the MEA for the duration of the subsidy period. The ‘Base energy
price’ is the bottom price set by the MEA to mitigate the subsidy in the event the ‘Correction amount’
should fall below the Base energy price.
10 http://english.rvo.nl/subsidies-programmes/sde-publications.
The SDE+ has one budget per category for a fixed number of years, depending on the technology
used (offshore wind, biomass, hydro, etc.) and is opened in five phases. The subsidy amount per kWh
increases per phase and applicants are encouraged to submit the most cost-efficient bid to increase the
chances of a successful submission. SDE+ applicants may no longer apply for energy investment tax
deduction (EIA).
The Decree implementing the SDE+ will be amended shortly to allow for a carry-forward of produced
kWh in excess of the volume eligible for SDE+, to future years where production volumes do not reach
the projected volumes. As a result of this amendment, the ‘wind factor’ will no longer be required in SDE+
applications.
The proposal for the amendment furthermore provides for the possibility of SDE+ for ‘joint projects’ in EU
member states that have agreed with the Netherlands to cooperate on such projects (within the meaning
of the EU Renewable Energy Directive). Physical transfer of the generated electricity to the Netherlands
will not be required.
Tax considerationsOur Energy Team has significant first-hand experience with inter alia avoiding VAT pre-financing, claiming
exemptions from real estate transfer tax, determining the depreciation profile for tax purposes, ensuring
efficient tax pooling and financing for sponsors, insurance tax issues and obtaining certainty in advance
from the Dutch tax authorities on the relevant tax aspects. Our tax experts are generally involved at an
early stage of the development in order to ensure an optimal structure is implemented before the tender
bid is submitted.
Loyens & Loeff involvementLoyens & Loeff has been involved in two of the main existing offshore wind farm projects in the Dutch
Exclusive Economic Zone (Amalia and, most recently, Gemini reaching financial close May 2014).
Belgium
CompetenceBelgium is a federal state. Whilst the competence for onshore renewable energy is assigned to the
Regions, the federal State is competent for the marine area for which Belgium has territorial jurisdiction,
i.e. the Belgian continental shelf/Belgian exclusive economic zone in the North Sea, including offshore
wind farms.11
Permits and licencesIn order to develop and operate an offshore wind farm, a series of offshore and onshore licences are
required.
Offshore licences
1) Offshore domain concession
A “domain concession” is required to construct and operate installations for the production of electricity
from water, currents or winds, in the sea areas that fall under Belgian jurisdiction. A domain concession
could be described as the offshore equivalent of an onshore production licence. At the same time it
confers on its holder a specific form of title allowing it to use an area in the Exclusive Economic Zone for
a specific purpose.
2) Marine protection construction authorisation and operating licence
The construction and operation of a wind farm in the sea areas falling under Belgian jurisdiction also
requires a specific construction authorisation and an operating licence. These are awarded following a
procedure in which the environmental impact of the wind farm is assessed, and could therefore be loosely
described as an offshore environmental permit.
3) Submarine cable licence
Finally, a licence is required to lay cables which enter territorial waters or national territory, or which are
placed in the framework of the operations of installations under Belgian jurisdiction.
Onshore licences
Onshore licence requirements depend on the route of the onshore cable, if any, connecting the submarine
export cable to the electricity grid. Those licences typically include road permits and an urban planning
permit.
Future wind farms are anticipated to connect to the “Belgian Offshore Grid” (BOG) (see below), which is
currently at the planning stage. Insofar as such wind farms do not have onshore assets, this would obviate
the need for onshore licences.
11 States which are party to UNCLOS (United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea of 1982), such as Belgium, are
entitled to determine an exclusive economic zone (“EEZ”) beyond the territorial sea. The EEZ cannot extend beyond 200
miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The EEZ comprises not only the seabed
and subsoil of the submarine areas, but also the waters superjacent to the seabed. Belgium defined its EEZ in 1999. The
Belgian EEZ comprises the entire Belgian continental shelf.
Roll-out of offshore wind farms in BelgiumIn 2004 the Belgian federal government determined an area of approximately 260 square kilometres on
the Belgian continental shelf in the North Sea for the installation of electricity generating plants based
on water, current or wind energy. In 2011 the area was reduced to 240 square kilometres. The area
consists of seven project zones. For all project zones a domain concession has now been granted for
the construction and operation of an offshore wind farm. These project zones combined will together
represent approximately 2200 MW.
As illustrated in the table below, three wind farms (C-Power, Northwind and Belwind) have already (fully
or partially) been constructed. The others are at the planning stage.
Permit holder Installed capacity Planned capacity Designated area
C-Power 325,2MW / Thorntonbank
Northwind (exEldepasco) 216MW / LodewijkbankBelwind 171MW 159MW Bligh Bank
Rentel / 288MW
Between Thorntonbank and
LodewijkbankNorther / 350MW Thorntonbank
Seastar / 245MW
Between Lodewijkbank and
Bligh BankMermaid / 266MW Above Bligh Bank
Northwester II / 224MW Above Bligh Bank
Sources: Websites CREG, Elia, wind farms, and recent press releases.
The map below shows the existing wind farms (light and dark green), the planned wind farms (grey-green),
and the existing submarine cables (solid dark green line). In addition it shows some future projects, such
as the Belgian Offshore Grid (thin orange dotted line), the Stevin project, a reinforcement of the onshore
grid (thick orange dotted line), and Project Nemo, a DC interconnector between Belgium and the UK
(purple dotted line).12
12 Please find more information below.
Source: Elia.13
Offshore wind energy support mechanismsThere are two types of support mechanisms for offshore wind energy: support for the financing of the
submarine cable (export cable) and operating support through a system of renewable energy certificates.
Both types of support have recently been amended.
Submarine cable financing
Up till now, each of the existing offshore wind farms installed its own export cable (this is described as
the “spaghetti scenario”). To support the domain concession holders, the Electricity Act provided that the
Belgian transmission system operator Elia System Operator (“Elia”) must pay one-third of the cost of the
submarine cable (and certain related installations and equipment), with a maximum of EUR 25 million.
In the light of (political) objections to the “spaghetti scenario”, plans were made to develop an offshore
grid (Belgian Offshore Grid, or “BOG”, see below) to which offshore wind farms would be able to connect.
Wind farms that connect to the BOG will not require their own export cable to the shore. The Electricity
Act was therefore recently amended to abolish the support for the submarine cable financing in respect of
domain concessions granted on or after 1 July 2007. Two exceptions apply. Domain concession holders
can request permission not to connect to the BOG, and if that permission is granted, they are entitled
to support for the submarine cable financing. In addition, domain concessions which do connect to the
BOG but are located more than 9 kilometres therefrom, are entitled to support for the financing of their
submarine cable, although the precise proportion remains to be fixed by Royal Decree.
13 http://www.elia.be/~/media/files/Elia/PressReleases/2013/EN/20131112_BOG-permits_ENG.pdf. Note that the Northwind
wind farm has been completed since Elia published this map.
Renewable energy certificates
The system of renewable energy certificates can be summarised as follows. The federal energy regulator
CREG grants domain concession holders one renewable energy certificate (“REC”) for every MWh
produced. The domain concession holder can then sell these RECs to the transmission system operator
(Elia) at a guaranteed minimum price.
The rules regarding the minimum price have recently been amended. Under the “old” support mechanism
for wind energy, which continues to apply to installations with financial close on or before 1 May 2014,
producers may sell their RECs to Elia for a guaranteed minimum price per certificate of EUR 107 for the
first 216MW and EUR 90 for the capacity exceeding EUR 216MW.
Such fixed minimum prices, regardless of the market price for electricity, have the disadvantage that they
lead to over-subsidisation at high market prices and under-subsidisation at low market prices. They also
give producers an incentive to produce at negative market prices.
To overcome this, a new REC system for offshore wind energy was introduced by Royal Decree of 4 April
2014. The new system applies to installations with financial close after 1 May 2014.
Under the new system, the amount of support is linked to the market price for electricity. The minimum
price per REC is calculated using the formula:
Minimum price = LCOE – [electricity reference price – correction factor]
LCOE stands for the “levelised cost of energy”, and as a rule constitutes the “guaranteed” revenue per
MWh. This is initially set at EUR 138. The electricity reference price for year N is the average in calendar
year N-1 of the Ice Endex power futures exchange price for supply in calendar year N. The correction
factor is initially 10%.
The guaranteed minimum price per REC is thus initially the difference between the LCOE of EUR 138
and 90% of the market price. The REC minimum price thus effectively “tops up” the market price (minus
10% correction factor) to the LCOE.
The EUR 138 LCOE and 10% correction factor constitute reference values based on certain assumptions
(e.g. an OPEX of EUR 30/MWh, and a Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) price equal to 90% of
the market reference price). The energy regulator CREG adapts those reference values per domain
concession to cover deviations from those assumptions (i.e. a higher LCOE if OPEX is higher than
EUR 30/MWh, or a lower correction factor if the PPA price is less than 10% below the market reference
price). Those adaptations occur in principle before financial close, and thereafter every three years.
Marine spatial planTo maintain a good balance between the various activities in the North Sea14 and the environment, the
federal government has established a marine spatial plan. This plan determines the spatial use of the
Belgian part of the North Sea for the period 2014-2020. The marine spatial plan was adopted by Royal
Decree of 20 March 2014.
The marine spatial plan determines a number of zoning areas, of which some are of particular interest
for offshore energy:
• an area intended for the granting of domain concessions for the construction and operation of
installations for the production of electricity from water, currents or winds;
• an area intended for the granting of domain concessions for the construction and operation of
installations for the transport of electricity (the “socket at sea”);15
• two areas intended for installations for energy storage;16
• areas intended for the laying and operation of pipelines and cables.17
Related future offshore projects
Belgian Offshore Grid
Elia intends to develop a Belgian Offshore Grid (BOG) consisting of two offshore high voltage substations,
Alpha and Beta, which, in turn, will be connected to the onshore transmission grid via submarine cables.
The intention is that domain concession holders will then connect to one of the offshore high voltage
substations.
On 7 July 2014 Elia was granted an authorisation for the construction and a permit for the operation of the
BOG (and a licence for geophysical and geotechnical research).
Stevin project
In order to meet the growing energy demand and to guarantee electricity supply in Belgium, Elia has been
planning to strengthen its high voltage grid in North-Western Belgium between Zeebrugge and Zomergem.
The so-called Stevin project involves laying a new 380 kV high voltage line, with a new onshore high
voltage substation at the end of this line in Zeebrugge. This reinforcement of the transmission grid is a
prerequisite to allow future wind farms to export their electricity, and is also a necessary precondition for
the BOG.
On 13 July 2012 the Flemish Government determined the final route and the implantation of the high
voltage substation and recorded it in a regional land-use plan (GRUP). This regional land-use plan was
challenged before the Council of State (the Supreme Administrative Court) by several private parties
and local authorities. On 26 September 2014 Elia issued a press release in which it stated that it had
14 These activities include inter alia shipping, fishery, tourism, sand and gravel extraction and scientific research.
15 This is the area where one of the offshore high voltage substations of the BOG, namely Alpha is to be built.
16 This is the area where the energy atolls (see below) are to be built.
17 This is inter alia an area for the laying of the submarine cables for Project Nemo (see below).
reached an agreement with these parties and that the Council of State was informed of the settlement
agreements. It is expected that, after formal closure of the proceedings, Elia will resume preparations for
the BOG project.
Artificial energy atoll
By Royal Decree of 8 May 2014,18 the federal government approved the conditions for construction and
operation of one or more energy atolls. An energy atoll is an artificial island for hydro-electric energy
storage, which will stock the excess electricity production of the offshore wind farms at sea. At peak
demand it will inject the stored electricity into the Belgian electricity grid.
Two possible candidates for the construction and operation of an energy atoll are the consortium Iland
(interested in the area near the coast of Wenduine) and the consortium of Rent-A-Port and Zeebrugge
(interested in the area near the coast of Zeebrugge).
Project Nemo
In addition to the Stevin project, Elia also intends to develop a DC interconnector between Belgium
(Zeebrugge) and the United Kingdom (Richborough). This interconnection is known as “Nemo project”.
Even though the Nemo project is not directly related to the production of offshore wind energy, it is one of
the major planned projects and hence noteworthy.
Tax considerationsOur Energy Team has significant first-hand experience with the various tax aspects relevant for the
development of offshore wind farms in Belgium.
This experience includes inter alia availability of tax incentives, avoiding VAT pre-financing, claiming
exemptions from real estate transfer tax, determining the depreciation profile for tax purposes and
ensuring efficient tax pooling for sponsors. Our tax experts are generally involved at an early stage of the
development in order to ensure an optimal structure is implemented before the tender bid is submitted.
Loyens & Loeff involvementLoyens & Loeff has been involved in all existing offshore wind farms in the Belgian Exclusive Economic
Zone, either on the lender side (C-Power) or the developer side (Belwind and Northwind). Loyens & Loeff
is currently assisting the developers of several more wind farms which are at the planning stage.
18 Royal Decree of 8 May 2014 on the conditions and procedure for the granting of domain concessions for the construction
and operation of installations for hydro-electric energy storage in the sea areas in which Belgium has jurisdiction according
to international maritime law.
The Loyens & Loeff Energy Team
Shared industry focusThe Energy Team represents the largest full-service energy practice among law firms in the Benelux
area. With a history of over 30 years of working with key players on corporate, regulatory, contract and
tax matters Loyens & Loeff has concentrated its energy sector expertise in the fully integrated Loyens &
Loeff Energy Team, comprising of dedicated lawyers and tax advisers.
Each member is a specialist in his or her own field, but all have the energy sector as a shared industry
focus. Unlike its competitors Loyens & Loeff is seen to be active (both by market players and by regulatory
and tax authorities) in all main energy subsectors, handling transactional, tax advisory and structuring,
regulatory and contractual matters across the spectrum of the energy industry, including upstream and
midstream oil and gas, power & utilities, energy infrastructure, renewables & sustainability and trade &
supply.
Renewables & SustainabilityIn recognition of the importance of, and opportunities offered by, the irreversible shift towards a sustainable
economy Loyens & Loeff’s Energy Team has taken the lead in advising on renewable energy projects
and transactions. Sustainability will continue to top the agenda in the coming decades. In recognition
of this Loyens & Loeff’s Energy Team has dedicated a significant part of its resources to renewable
energy and sustainability projects in terms of staff, permanent internal knowhow building to keep abreast
of developments in the field, and the sharing of information with clients. One of the hallmarks of our
renewables & sustainability practice is that we work with clients on small scale initiatives (notably solar,
wind, biomass), the variety and sheer number of which is a typical aspect of the shift towards a sustainable
economy, as well as on nationwide landmark projects (large scale district heating, CCS, large scale
(offshore) wind power). Testifying to our leading position in this field is our key involvement in the largest
wind farm projects to date in both the Netherlands and Belgium.
For more information about this publication, please contact the following members of our Energy Team.
The Netherlands Belgium
Legal
Max Oosterhuis
T +31 10 224 67 30
Roland de Vlam
T +31 20 578 55 17
Legal
Marc Vermylen
T +32 2 743 43 15
Thomas Chellingsworth
T +32 2 743 43 77
Tax
Waldo Kapoen
T +31 20 578 51 14
Niels Muller
T +31 20 578 52 33
Tax
Natalie Reypens
T +32 2 473 43 37
Although this publication has been compiled with great care, Loyens & Loeff N.V. and all other entities,
partnerships, persons and practices trading under the name ‘Loyens & Loeff’, cannot accept any liability
for the consequences of making use of this publication without their cooperation. The information provided
is intended as general information and cannot be regarded as advice.
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