A beacon for the city: Ostend gets its first wind turbine
The city that’s home to Flanders’ energy minister now has a turbine, making use of coastal winds to provide energy for local use
No lack of wind
The installation in the city’s port was unveiled on Thursday and will supply energy for local use rather than feeding power into the national grid. “This medium-sized wind turbine is literally and figuratively a new beacon for Ostend,” said energy minister and Ostend resident Bart Tommelein, who officiated at the inauguration. “We’ve no lack of wind as a renewable resource at the coast, so it’s high time we made more use of it.”
One reason wind energy has been challenging for Ostend is its airport. The blades on large turbines can interfere with air-traffic control systems and so could not be risked. Having a smaller wind turbine for local energy use gets around that problem.
Climate-change commitments
The 100kW turbine, built by the Brussels-based company Xant, is in Ostend’s Renewable Energy Base, a terminal used by companies building much bigger offshore wind farms. The location was also chosen so that the impact on local wildlife is minimised, following studies of bird migration routes and daily flight patterns around the port.
The port authorities cite the simplicity of the turbine, low maintenance costs and high energy yield as reasons for its choice. “The energy produced will mainly be used by the Port of Ostend itself,” it said in a statement. “Indeed, the more you take for yourself, the sooner the investment pays off."
It will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions at the port, and more broadly help Flanders on the way to meeting its climate-change commitments.
Photo: Bart Tommelein inaugurates the new turbine
Courtesy Xant
Port of Ostend
port workers
maximum waterway capacity in tons
total port area surface in hectares
- Port of Ostend
- Visit Ostend
- Flemish Port Commission
