Elia jobs

Renewable energy sources are vital for achieving climate goals. That’s something Elia, the transmission system operator of the Belgian high-voltage grid, realises all too well. Onshore and offshore wind energy is part of the solution. “In the coming years, we will be building an energy island that will ensure the continued development of offshore wind energy and provide our country with additional international connections,” says Geert Moerkerke of Elia.
    
At the end of last year, on a proposal from the Ministers of Energy and the North Sea, the Council of Ministers approved the expansion of the Belgian modular offshore grid. After the ‘offshore power socket’ and the subsea Nemo Link, the high-voltage connection between Bruges and the British city of Richborough, an artificial energy island will soon follow, in the Princess Elisabeth zone. This enables our country to take the next step in developing an integrated European offshore grid.
 
What purpose will the new energy island serve? 
Geert Moerkerke (Offshore Operations & Maintenance Manager at Elia): “Today, offshore wind farms represent 2.1 GW of installed capacity in the  North Sea  . By 2030, this could be 5.6 GW, thanks to the construction of additional wind turbines and farms. But for this greater production capacity, you do need a solution that optimally connects all the wind farms and efficiently transports their energy to land. Compare it with a motorway that we provide and maintain for wind energy producers. The energy island also underlines our country's leading position in offshore electricity.” 

How will the energy island be constructed?
Geert Moerkerke: “The project is under development. Delivery of the island, without high voltage compounds and cables, is scheduled for 2026. After that, we will work on the high-voltage infrastructure. After testing and final commissioning, the island must of course also be maintained. This is crucial, because it ensures it will continue to function optimally in all circumstances and the installations will reach their proposed life span. We now have many years of pioneering experience in this area. Today, for example, we ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the Offshore Switchyard, or OSY – also known as the ‘offshore power socket’.”  

What role does this famous offshore power socket play? 
Geert Moerkerke: “It is a very large socket for offshore wind turbines, which helps us transport energy. Specifically, the OSY connects four wind farms: Rentel, Seastar, Mermaid and Northwester 2. It sends the energy collected from those parks to land via joint subsea cables. The OSY is part of the Modular Offshore Grid or MOG. It's built like an offshore platform. Thanks to the MOG, renewable energy is optimally integrated in the Belgian electricity grid. The new energy island yet to be constructed will further expand capacity, which is why we call it MOG-II.”

How often do the engineers and technicians go to the MOG?
Geert Moerkerke: “On average once a week. They travel by boat or helicopter, depending on the weather conditions. It is about an hour to seventy-five minutes sailing from Ostend. On site, our people put on climbing equipment to board the MOG. It's faster by helicopter. It takes about fifteen minutes. The disadvantage is that by air you can bring fewer people, materials and parts in one go. If the weather conditions are too bad to return immediately, our team members can comfortably stay at the MOG for a few more hours. Or, in an emergency they can sleep there, with a view of the sea (he laughs).”

Which people or profiles is Elia looking for to fulfil these tasks? 
Geert Moerkerke: “People who are fascinated by technology and engineering, who want to perform socially relevant work, who consider sustainability important and are rather adventurous. No two working days are the same. And I don’t know of many engineering jobs in which people work on land, at sea and in the air. Our department currently has about fifteen employees. We want to double that number in the coming years, also due to the construction of the new energy island. We work in multidisciplinary teams: everyone has their own domain expertise. We are not specifically looking for engineers with a particular offshore speciality: Elia provides training to work with offshore installations, including the corresponding certified safety training courses.”

How challenging is that technically: transporting power from sea to land? 
Geert Moerkerke: “It involves a great many collaborations and interactions. The cables are not only useful for transporting power to land, but also for the exchange of energy between Belgium and other countries. For example, if there is a lot of wind in Scotland or Ireland and very little in Belgium, we can import the wind energy generated. Or vice versa: export from our coast to neighbouring countries.”

Are there any other challenges?
Geert Moerkerke: “The unpredictability of the sea, for example. The sea is a wild beast that can’t be tamed. Offshore installations have to cope with tough conditions. They must be able to withstand high waves, strong currents and storms. As a result, the design criteria for the installations are very strict. And for our people, working at sea is also adventurous: but that is precisely one aspect that appeals to them, they are doing something unique.”

Wind energy is unpredictable, which solutions are currently being explored for storing power? 
Geert Moerkerke: “Today, wind energy needs to be consumed almost immediately after it is generated. Energy storage will become increasingly important in the next few years. Being a system operator, Elia is working hard on this objective. Because storing energy helps make the grid more stable by reducing or optimising the imbalance between energy demand and supply. We don't build installations ourselves, because generating power is not part of our activities, but we do look at how we can, for example, make room in the high-voltage grid for installations that convert wind energy into green hydrogen.”

How do you see wind energy evolving in the coming years?
Geert Moerkerke: “Wind turbines, together with solar panels and hydro-electric power stations, are among the most important solutions for generating sustainable energy. The potential of offshore wind turbines is particularly significant. At sea we can build much larger installations than on land, the wind power is much stronger and we can easily import and export energy from and to other countries. Wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea supplied green electricity to almost 2 million Belgian households in 2021. In a few years, it will more than double. Offshore wind energy is definitely here to stay.”