Over the past year, Aspiravi was involved in the realisation of 5 new onshore wind turbines in Belgium. 1 appeared on the right bank of the port of Antwerp (3 MW). In Le Rœulx, in the Walloon province of Hainaut, we built 4 new wind turbines (9 MW). The 5 new wind turbines combined generate green energy equivalent to the annual consumption of 7,000 households and reduce annual CO₂ emissions by almost 11,500 tonnes.

Furthermore, construction of the power station for non-recyclable wood waste, A&U Energie in Wielsbeke, also continued last year.

The Aspiravi group was also involved last year in the construction of the new offshore wind farm SeaMade, which is building 58 new wind turbines in the North Sea. This is taking place in two zones: Seastar (30 wind turbines) and Mermaid (28 wind turbines).

We will be busy this year too! The construction works for A&U Energie, the power station for non-recyclable wood waste, will be completed this year, whereby the station will generate both green energy (20MW of electricity) and green heat (25MW of steam) while also solving an existing waste problem.

The 58 new wind turbines for SeaMade, the largest offshore wind energy project in the Belgian North Sea, will also be put in place this year. SeaMade will provide for a total installed capacity of 487MW. SeaMade will produce green power for as many as 485,000 households.

Moreover, we will be commencing the construction of no less than 19 new onshore wind turbines in Belgium in 2020. The wind farm at the port of Antwerp will be expanded by 11 new wind turbines, 6 of them on the left bank and 5 on the right bank. In Limburg, we are implementing 3 projects for a single wind turbine each, in Ham, Genk and Diepenbeek, with Limburg win(d)t NV. There will be a new wind turbine in Laarne and Diest also. Finally, in Héron Fernelmont, a project for 3 wind turbines is planned.

Each project, irrespective of its current phase (in initiation, under construction, in operation), has a project page on the Aspiravi website where all the information relating to the project can be found.

In the Belgian territorial waters of the North Sea, the government defined an initial zone for the development of wind energy projects in the early 2000s. Within this zone, nine domain concessions have been granted for the construction of an equal number of wind farms. In 2005/2006, the Aspiravi group’s Board of Directors also decided to expand its activities and build offshore wind projects in the Belgian North Sea.

In 2013/2014, the Aspiravi group was involved in the construction of 72 wind turbines for the offshore project Northwind, and in 2018/2019 in the construction of 42 offshore wind turbines for the project Rentel. Both offshore wind farms together produce green power for the average annual consumption of 530,000 households.

The 4 offshore wind farms in which the Aspiravi group is involved will together reduce
annual CO₂ emissions by
1.7 million tonnes.

In 2019, SeaMade, of which the Aspiravi group is a shareholder, began the construction of 2 new offshore wind farms: Seastar (30 wind turbines) and Mermaid (28 wind turbines). As early as this year, SeaMade will be producing green power for the average annual consumption of 485,000 households.

In 2010/2011, the Board of Directors also decided to develop wind energy projects abroad in order to further promote the Aspiravi group's growth. An acceptable risk project was sought that could also be developed in collaboration with a local partner, who knows the local regulations and market very well. This was found on the island of Curaçao, where not only is Dutch spoken, but also Dutch law applies. Moreover, and of course very importantly, there are favourable wind speeds on Curaçao.

The first two wind farms were developed and built in 2011/2012. A third wind farm was added in 2017. Today, the Aspiravi group operates a total of 15 wind turbines on the island of Curaçao, which together produce green power for 53,000 households.

The wind turbines are truly necessary for the island's energy supply.

30% of today's energy
consumption on Curaçao is
produced by wind energy.

Aspiravi NV was a pioneering company in 2002 for the implementation of onshore wind energy projects in Belgium and began with 35 wind turbines, generating 12MW combined. In early 2020, the company was involved in the operation of 189 onshore wind turbines in Belgium, which together have an installed capacity of 446MW and produce green electricity for almost 281,000 households.

In the province of Limburg, Aspiravi NV is active as a shareholder of the companies Limburg win(d)t NV and Lommel win(d)t NV. In early 2020, 45% of the wind turbines in the province of Limburg had been implemented by the Aspiravi group. This equates to 54 wind turbines in total that together produce green electricity for approximately 70,000 Limburg households.

At the port of Antwerp, Aspiravi NV is implementing projects on the right bank as a shareholder of Vleemo NV and on the left bank as a shareholder of Wind@Stroom NV. By the end of 2019, 55 wind turbines had already been built at the port of Antwerp, resulting in a reduction of CO₂ emissions by over 182,000 tonnes/year.

In 2005, the Aspiravi group's Board of Directors decided, together with Spano (now Unilin), to develop, construct and operate a plant for the incineration of non-recyclable wood waste. A&S Energie in Oostrozebeke produced its first green power in 2010. Thanks to the annual processing of 180,000 tonnes of non-recyclable wood waste, renewable energy is produced for 55,000 households.

In 2016, the Aspiravi group's Board of Directors decided to explore with Unilin the possibility of setting up a second green power plant in Wielsbeke, in addition to a Unilin plant. After extensive research, it was decided at the beginning of 2018 to build this power station. The construction of the power station has taken 2 years, with the production to commence this year.

The raw material for the new plant is also non-recyclable wood waste that is supplied locally. But A&U Energie also produces green heat (steam) alongside green power (electricity). The green power is partly supplied to Unilin and partly to the grid. The green heat is supplied to the nearby companies Unilin and Agristo. The plant has a thermal capacity of 90MW, through which 20MW of green power and 25MW of green heat is supplied.

BIOGAS AND HYDROELECTRIC POWER
Since the founding of Aspiravi in 2002, there have also been 3 small biogas engines and 2 hydroelectric plants in the group's machine pool. The group is not investing further in these forms of energy production, however.