In Europe, Belgium is in the vanguard of wind energy development, having created much offshore wind turbine capacity in recent years. This capacity will grow in the next few years, with a view to making a major contribution to the achievement of emission reduction objectives.

The Belgian hydraulic engineering industry views wind energy as a growth market, as evidenced by the sector’s major investment in such projects, not only in Belgium, but also beyond. Within Belgium’s maritime cluster the operations of the hydraulic engineering industry in the field of offshore renewable energy generation have been gaining in importance.

These high-tech, fast-evolving activities are a new spin-off of the dredging industry. Competition on this market is bound to intensify. The Belgian hydraulic engineering industry also invests in another energy of the future: blue energy, i.e. power generated by waves, tides and currents.