Greener train travel has arrived in Belgium
Green energy is reaching new heights in Belgium "“ 150 meters, to be exact. Nine new windmills were officially inaugurated on June 6 as part of the Greensky Project. These windmills join the seven other Greensky Project windmills that had already been installed in the Belgian city of Gingelom to create a 16-windmill energy park along the Belgian E40 freeway.
The new windmills were added to the towns of Lincent, Orp-Jauche, Hélécine, and Hannut and each have a capacity of 18 MW. They will each produce a total of 58,000 MWh of energy per year, thus preventing an annual 26,000 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere (equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 16,000 homes).
The Greensky Project is a partnership between the city of Sint-Truiden, the Brussels Electrical Intercommunity (IBE), the Infrabel Belgian government-owned railway company, and ENGIE Electrabel. The 30 million-Euro project will eventually grow to reach a total of 25 windmills, spaced out amongst six different cities, creating one of the largest Belgian windmill parks upon its completion.
If the new windmills were inaugurated in the presence of François Bellot, the federal transportation minister, it's because these particular windmills have a special task: they were added with the specific purpose of directly supporting the local train system, allowing for greener train travel throughout Belgium.
This unique windmill park allows the electricity produced to be directly injected into the Infrabel rail system via a high-tension connection system. 170 trains are partially run by this system every day on the high-speed TGV Louvain-Liège line as well as on classic Louvain-Liège and Landen-Hasselt lines.
As a 23% investor in the Greensky Project, the city of Sint-Truiden is participating in the future of green energy.
City authorities in Sint-Truiden have invested in increasing citizen awareness of sustainable, intelligent, innovative energy policies with this and other projects, including the launch of electric river vehicles in a collaborative consumption model.
ENGIE Electrabel, as a 50 % investor in the Greensky Project partnership, is quickly expanding its renewable energy presence in Belgium, particularly in Wallonia. ENGIE now has over 100 MW of wind energy capacity installed in the region, making it the top green energy producer in the country.
The company hopes to surpass 500 MW of installed capacity in Belgium by 2020 (bypassing its previous goal of 400 MW of installed capacity). To meet "“ and even exceed "“ this goal, ENGIE Electrabel intends to install at least 60 MW of energy in the region every year until 2021.
By investing in this and other green energy products, ENGIE Electrabel hopes not only to increase its presence in the industry in Belgium but also to contribute to the availability of green and renewable energies throughout the country.
