Energy in Belgium

Energy in Belgium describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Belgium.

It is governed by the energy policy of Belgium, which is split over several levels of government. For example the regional level is responsible for awarding green certificates (except for offshore wind parks) and the national level for anything concerning nuclear power. As a member country of the European Union Belgium also complies to its energy policy.

Overview

Energy in Belgium[1]
	Capita Million	Prim. energy TWh	Production TWh	Import TWh	Electricity TWh	CO2-emission Mt
2004	10.42	671	157	605	89	116
2007	10.62	663	167	603	92	106
2008	10.71	681	169	656	91	111
2009	10.79	665	178	577	85	101
2010	10.88	708	187	631	91	106
Change 2004–2010	4.4%	5.5%	19.1%	4.3%	2.2%	−8.6%
1 Mtoe = 11.63 TWh. Primary energy includes energy losses that are 2/3 for nuclear power.[2] CO2-emission resulting from burning fuel only.

Primary energy consumption

Primary energy is the amount of extractable energy present in fuels as they are found in nature. It is often expressed in tonnes of oil equivalent(toe) or watt-hour(Wh). Unless stated otherwise the lower heating value is used in the remainder of this text. A portion of primary energy is converted into other forms before it is used, depending on the energy conversion efficiency of the installation and method employed this number differs significantly from the final energy as consumed by end users.

Gross primary energy by source(Mtoe)[3][4]
	Coal	Oil	Natural gas	Nuclear	Renewable & waste-to-energy	Other (electricity import/export)	Total
2006	5.165	23.782	15.044	12.154	2.293	+0.960	59.398
2007	4.612	23.073	14.969	12.566	2.917	+0.682	58.819
2008	4.713	24.882	14.879	11.873	2.347	+1.027	59.721
2009	3.257	24.615	15.153	12.304	2.706	−0.021	58.014
2010	3.394	25.880	17.006	12.492	2.872	+0.260	61.940
share in 2010	5.48%	41.8%	27.5%	20.2%	4.64%	0.42%

Production

In recent years own production is about 25%. However this is mostly due to nuclear power generation, which by convention is counted as domestic production despite the uranium being imported. Renewable energy sources account for the rest of own production.^[3]

Historically, up until 1992, coal was mined in Belgium. Since 2000 the quantities of Coalbed methane have been researched.^[5] These show that a concession of Limburgse Reconversie Maatschappij would contain 7 billion cubic meters of mine gas. In 2012 a deal was made with the Australian Dart Energy to investigate the practical extraction of this mine gas.^[6]

Import

In 2010, crude oil was imported mainly from Russia(44%), and OPEC countries (23%). Norway was the largest (37%) supplier of natural gas followed by The Netherlands (29%). While 39% of coal was imported from the United States and 22% from Australia.^[3]

Energy carrier conversions

Oil refining

At the end of 2011 Belgium had a distillation capacity 41 Mt. That year 72% of the capacity was used. ^[7]

Electricity

Electrabel is main producer of electricity, followed by EDF Luminus.

With the exception of 2009 Belgium has been a net importer in recent years.

Short term trading is done via the Belpex energy exchange, which is now part of APX-ENDEX. The Belgian transmission grid, operated by Elia System Operator, has a central position in the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe. This allows Belgium to trade electricity with its neighbours. Though currently there are only physical connections with the Netherlands and France. Direct links with Germany(Alegro) and The United Kingdom(Nemo) are planned. Currently a maximum of 3500 MW can be imported.^[8] In comparison the net installed generation capacity in Belgium is estimated to be 19,627 MW^[9]

In 2010, Belgium produced 95 TWh of electricity. After subtraction of the electricity used in the production process and losses and addition of the net import 84 TWh was consumed by end users.^[3]

According to the GEMIX report the potential of renewable energy sources is 17 TWh per year.^[10] Edora, the union of renewable energy producers in Wallonia refers to studies claiming that 7.8 TWh may come from renewable sources in 2015.^[11] In 2000, renewable energy (including biomass) was used for producing 0.95% of the 78.85 TWh of electricity produced domestically^[12] In 2011 wind and solar power generated 3.8 TWh.^[9]

Nuclear power

Nuclear power typically contributes between 50% and 60% of the electricity produced domestically(50.4% in 2010^[3]).

Belgium has two nuclear power plants:

• Nuclear Plant Doel with four reactors of 392, 433, 1006 and 1008 MW_e (1975)
• Nuclear Plant Tihange with three reactors of 962, 1008 and 1015 MW_e (1975)

By law^[13] the nuclear power plants are to be phased-out. The first reactors are scheduled to be taken out of service in 2014, the last ones by 2025. It is widely assumed that the government will replace that law.

Two reactors are scheduled to be shut down by 2015. The lifetime of one old reactor has been extended through to 2025.

Fossil fuels

The use of coal in thermal power plants has been decreasing, in 2000 it was still used to produce 14.25% of electricity,^[12] by 2006 this had dropped to about 10%. In 2010 it was down to 6.3%.^[3] The conventional coal units of the thermal power plants in Mol and Kallo were closed.^[14] Oil is also playing an increasingly less prominent role in 2010 it accounted only for 0.4% of gross electricity production.

This reduction is mostly compensated by a rise in popularity of natural gas. Where in 2000 gas only accounted for 23% it was up to 33%(including blast furnace gas) of gross electricity generated in 2010.^[3][12] Natural gas power plants are less polluting and have a short start-up time,

Fluxys is the main operator in natural gas transmission.

Several power stations use a combined cycle including: Drogenbos, Amercoeur, Tessenderlo. Building permits are processed for plants in Seneffe and Visé.

Wind power

At the start of 2012, there were 498 operational wind turbines in Belgium, with a capacity of 1080 MW.^[15] The amount of electricity generated from wind energy has surpassed 2 TWh per year.^[16]

On Sunday 6 February 2011, 12% of the consumed electricity was generated by wind turbines. Due to high winds. ^[16]

There are seven large-scale offshore wind farm projects. Thorntonbank Wind Farm (325 MW, of which 215 MW is installed) and Belwind Wind Farm (330 MW) are operational. The other five are in various stages of planning.

EU and Belgium Wind Energy Capacity (MW)[17][18][19][20]
No	Country	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
–	EU-27	105,696	93,957	84,074	74,767	64,712	56,517	48,069	40,511	34,383	28,599	23,159	17,315	12,887	9,678	6,453
15	Belgium	1,375	1,078	911	563	415	287	194	167	96	68	35	32	13	6	6

Solar power

The exploitation of Solar power is on the rise in Belgium. In 2011 the installed capacity expanded to almost 2 GWp, nearly all of it was grid connected. Belgium's 1812 MWp of photovoltaics produced an estimated 1282 GWh of electricity in 2011.^[21]

Year	Photovoltaics	CSP
MWp	GWh	MWp	GWh
2008	70.9
2009	574	488
2010	787	560
2011	1812	1282

Source:^[21][22][23]

Biomass and waste

In 2009, biomass and biogas were used to generate 3.5 TWh or 3.8% of gross domestic electricity production.^[4]

In 2010 5.07 million tonnes of waste was produced in Belgium. Of which 1.75 Mt was incinerated. Nearly always(99.8% of the time) energy was recovered during incineration. Non renewable waste was used for producing 1.4% of the gross domestic electricity production. 1.9 Mt was recycled and 1 Mt was composted or fermented, only 0.062 Mt was dumped.^[24] Ten years earlier this was only 0.71%.^[12]

Hydroelectric power

Belgium has two pumped storage hydroelectric power stations: Coo-Trois-Ponts(1164 MW) and Plate-Taille(143 MW). Pumped storage stations are a net consumer of electricity, but they contributed 1.4% to the gross electricity production in 2010.^[3]

Despite the limited potential there are also a number of stations generating hydroelectric power. With a combined capacity of about 100 MW. Contributing 0.3% of gross domestic production in 2010.^[3]

Almost all of this capacity is realised in the Walloon Region. Even though hydroelectric power was used extensively in Flanders prior to the industrial revolution, there are no rivers where it can be generated on a large scale.^[25] The region's 15 installations have a combined capacity just shy of 1 MW (994 kW).^[26]

Final energy consumption

In 2010 the largest share(34%) of final energy was for domestic use (this includes: households, service sector, commerce, and agriculture). Transport and industrial sector both consumed about a quarter. Fossil fuels are also used as raw material in several manufacturing processes, this non-energetic use accounts for the remainder of the final energy.^[3]

A more detailed picture of the energy and type of fuel used by various activities is given in the table below.

final energy by activity(ktoe)[4]
	Electricity	Natural gas	Coal	Oil	Renewable	Heat	Total	Share of final energy
Domestic usage (2009)
Households	1738	3322	264	2756	231	13	8324	20.2%
Commerce and services	1847	1728		952	9	69	4605	11.2%
Agriculture	88	235		433	35	25	816	2.0%
Other	9		9	46			64	0.2%
Industrial usage (2009)
Chemical	746	1979	13	149	18	370	3275	7.9%
Iron and steel	447	678	578	11			1714	4.2%
Non metal minerals	168	290	202	269	94		1023	2.5%
Food/beverage/tobacco	400	531	56	51	18	30	1086	2.6%
Printing/paper pulp	205	148	33	15	307	50	758	1.8%
Construction	110	197		63		3	370	0.9%
Non ferro metals	114	96	22		111		343	0.8%
Machinery	151	66	2	17	2		238	0.6%
Textile and leather	108	97	3	1		3	212	0.5%
Transportation items	87	92		4			183	0.4%
Wood	67	9			103		179	0.4%
Extractive industries	54	11					65	0.2%
Other	152	42	6	218		14	432	1.0%
Transport usage (2009)
Road				8881	231		9112	22.1%
Air				1295			1295	3.1%
Rail	151			35			186	0.5%
Inland navigation				165			165	0.4%
Total final usage (2010)[3]
Absolute 2010	7163	11960	1363	21746	1156	640	44028
Share 2010	16.3%	27.2%	3.1%	49.4%	2.6%	1.5%	100%

Brussels-Capital Region

In the Brussels-Capital Region, the electricity and natural gas net are operated by Sibelga. In 2011, the natural gas consumption was 10,480 GWh and the electricity consumption was 5,087 GWh.^[27]

Sibelga invests in combined heat and power (CHP) installations for which it receives green certificates. In 2011 its eleven installations had a combined capacity of 17.8 MWe and 19.7 MWth and generated 50.5 GWh of electricity.^[27]

The Region of Brussels-Capital also encourages MicroCHP^[28] and implemented the European directive of 2002/91/CE on Energy Performance of Buildings.

Corporations

The companies Umicore, BASF, Solvay, Duferco, Tessenderlo Chemie, ArcelorMittal, and Air Liquide together account for about 15% of the total electricity consumption of Belgium in 2006.^[29]

Greenhouse gas emissions

In 1990, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 146.9 million tons of CO₂ equivalent (Mt CO₂ eq), whose 88 millions tons came from the Flemish Region, 54.8 from the Walloon Region and 4 Mt from the Brussels-capital Region.^[30]

Being a member of the European Union, Belgium, applied the European Union Emission Trading Scheme set up by the Directive 2003/87/EC. The Kyoto protocol sets a 7.5% reduction of greenhouse gas emission target compared to 1990. Belgium set up a National Allocation Plan at the federal level with target for each of the three regions.

Belgium takes part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and has ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

On 14 November 2002, Belgium signed the Cooperation Agreement for the implementation of a National Climate Plan and reporting in the context of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto protocol. The first National Allocation Plan was for the period from 2005 to 2007. The European commission approved it on 20 October 2004. The second allocation plan was for the period 2008–2012 and aims a reduction of 7.5% of green house gas emissions compared to 1990.

Business

According to Forbes list of billionaires (2011), the Belgian billionaire Wang Xingchun ($1 B 2011) made his wealth in coal business.^[31] Wang is a resident of Singapore who holds a Belgian citizenship. Wang is chairman of minerals concern Winsway Coking Coal, an importer of coal to China from Mongolia that went public in Hong Kong 2010.^[32]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Energy in Belgium.

• Electricity sector in Belgium
• Energy policy of Belgium

References

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