The warning was immediately seen as an argument for reviewing the closure of three nuclear power stations, due to take place in 2015 – two smaller reactors in Doel, East Flanders (pictured), and one larger one in Tihange in Wallonia. In 2014, three coal- and gas-fired generation plants will close, putting more pressure on the grid.

The blackouts would be more likely to happen in the winter, when consumption was at its highest. The report takes no account of alternative energy sources, as production cannot be stockpiled for times of high demand. Questions were put to federal energy minister Melchior Wathelet concerning a possible change to the 2003 law that set out the timetable for closure of the nuclear plants. The government would fulfil its promise, made in the accords setting up the new administration, to produce a proposal by 21 July to guarantee supply, said Wathelet.

Speaking on the VRT programme De zevende dag, Wathelet said the problem was that the power from the nuclear plants would have to be replaced either with new production capacity or by imports. Belgium has, for almost a year, imported more energy than it produces, and there is a question whether that can be increased and at what cost. Similarly, if Belgium is to replace old production capacity with new, what form should that generation take?

Part of the answer, according to Jo Libeer, chairman of the Flemish chamber of commerce Voka, is the lack of a predictable, transparent and investor-friendly legal framework surrounding the rules on permits in Belgium. “The problem is not so much the closure of the nuclear plants, but the fact that there’s too little investment in conventional generation in this country,” he said.

The climate of uncertainty, together with a poor public image of energy companies, “largely explain the reluctance to invest in coal- and gas-fired plants,” continued Libeer. “But that is just the investment we need, in convention and in flexible installations such as gas and biomass if we are to avoid power cuts in the future.”