FT: What made you start up Belwind?
FC: In 2005, I was contacted by foreign investors who wanted to know about investment opportunities in Belgium in the off-shore wind industry. Energy consulting group 3E told them they could advise on location, but for strategy, business plan and politics, 3E told them to come to me. There is not one other sector where there is so much investment as in off-shore wind. In 2005, when I had these first discussions, I realised what potential there is.

There are many critics of offshore wind. What makes you so convinced about the technology?
At this moment, offshore wind is the only - and I repeat - the only answer to produce electricity in quantities that are sufficient to play a role in the western European energy world. To give you an idea, Belwind I, Belwind II and Eldepasco [the three projects that bring off-shore wind to the Belgian coast, see box] will together represent a power plant of 546 megawatts. That's a real power plant. And this power plant is producing electricity from a free source that will always be available: wind.

How will the plan to construct a North Sea grid that would interconnect wind farms from nine countries assist energy developers?
If you look at connections between certain countries, it's already happening. The cable between Belgium and the UK is already under development. However, the full off-shore grid, an integrated grid, is a dream and is still far away - maybe 15 or 20 years away. It's nice to start creating policies, but why not support what is actually happening today? I'm a little bit critical of this. Today we need support to be able to build power plants, and we do not have this support but see our policymakers busy with dreams of the future.

What's your view on alternative clean-power technologies, such as carbon capture and storage and nuclear?
Carbon storage is just non-existent. We are not there yet. It is not competitive at a price or a technology level. As for nuclear, of course many shout that all nuclear power plants should close tomorrow. I would never say such a thing because we cannot do it. We have uranium for what, the next 70 years or so? And then we will have to take care of these plants for the next 50,000 years. It is a power source with which, in the end, we must stop working. It is too dangerous - it really is - it is too contaminating, and the raw materials are too scarce to be used as an energy source.

Off-shore wind is capable of producing a lot of electricity, and it is going to become cheaper. The source is free, and it's eternal. Is it expensive now? I tell you, no. It's €160 per megawatt with current technology. In more than half of the world, electricity costs are above that level. People in developing countries with nuclear power plants pay that already, and they are totally dependent on the evolution of oil and gas prices. We have to invest in new technologies and develop a portfolio of them. Off-shore wind power is, at this moment, the most promising. All the rest are, again, dreams for the future.

But why do you care? In 70 years, we'll be dead anyway.
I am a responsible entrepreneur. I'm not going to say we can live without nuclear energy today, and I am not saying wind will provide electricity for everything. But I want to put my energy and efforts into something that is doing something for the future. If I were to develop the new generation of coal-fired power plants....yeah, fantastic [sarcastically gives a thumbs up]. What would I have done? The combustion of this scarce energy source? Not in my time.

We are investing pragmatically in off-shore wind because that energy source is going to produce something like 20% percent of our electricity needs in a very efficient way. Maybe 30% percent. We will be independent from the threat of scarce energy sources. Many, many wars are fought over these energy sources.

What about those who say off-shore wind is not reliable?
[laughs] Thank you for this question because it is one of the biggest lies in the world that if the wind goes down, the lights go out. I'll tell you another story. Belwind has 55 turbines. If one turbine needs repaired, the other turbines remain working, and the power plant as a whole never fails. And other power plants do fail, and they are also stopped for maintenance. Do you see the lights going out then? All grid systems are organised with ‘nominations'; we have to estimate how much we can produce, which we can predict. If there is no wind, then we predict nil, exactly as any other power plant will do if it needs to close for maintenance.

Doesn't off-shore wind have a negative impact on birds and other sea life?
If a bird sees a wind turbine, it flies to the left or to the right of it, just like they do with buildings or cars. As for the cables on the seabed, there are hundreds of thousands of kilometres of cables on the seabed for transferring data. Nobody asks questions about those. Stop driving cars, and you'll save the lives of more animals that are killed on the roads.

How do you see yourself in relation to Belwind over the next five years?
I created Belwind, then I was allowed to manage the engineering team and the finance team and the construction, and now I've been asked to manage the operations. I have been lucky to see all the phases of the power plant. So how do I see myself? Well, I will be CEO of a 546 MW power plant. I know with my company, InControl SA, we will be involved in the development of wind farms elsewhere in France, the UK and Germany and probably also in Spain and Greece. We have the know-how, and we can help build up elsewhere.

What do you do with your time when you're not running the company?
Time is lacking. My family lives in Limburg, but Belwind's headquarters needed to be at the coast. If you ask me what do I do, I work. In the weekends I travel to Limburg, or my family comes here. I played golf, but I stopped. For these kinds of projects you need focus, 100% focus.

The Projects:

Belwind (phase I)
Location: Bligh Bank (46 to 52 km off the coast of Zeebrugge)
Megawatts: 330
Financing: €650 million
Constructed: Sept 2009 to Dec 2010

Belwind (phase II)
Location: Bligh Bank
Megawatts: 165
Finance: €650 million
Construction: 2012

Eldepasco
Location: Bank Zonder Naam (Bank Without a Name) 37 km off the coast of Zeebrugge
Megawatts: 216
Finance: €850 million
Construction: 2012