A Dutch weather forecaster has accused Belgium of inadvertently stealing wind from its neighbours’ wind turbines in the North Sea.
Wind farms in Belgium are reportedly taking up to 3 % of wind energy from Dutch installations, according to Remco Verzijlbergh, CEO of Dutch weather forecasting service Whiffle.
In an interview with Belgian broadcaster VRT, Verzijlbergh said: “A wind turbine is designed to extract wind from the air. If you measure behind a wind turbine, the wind blows less hard. Behind a wind farm with many wind turbines together, you really see lower wind speeds.”
Verzijlbergh explained that Belgian wind farms have an advantage over Dutch ones. “They are located southwest of the Dutch parks and the wind often comes from the southwest, so you often steal some of our wind,” he said.
He believes better coordination is needed to ensure no country is disadvantaged in this area. “First of all, within a country itself, but we will also have to do it internationally. The North Sea is slowly being built with wind farms, so there will be more and more of that wind theft,” said Verzijlbergh.
“Coordination is needed so that it is not handled unwisely or that no ‘race to the water’ is organised, where whoever builds first also gets the most favourable wind.”
The use of wind farms is crucial for countries aiming to become carbon neutral. By 2030, Belgium wants to build six gigawatts of wind turbines in the North Sea to meet its targets.
