October 2019
CRM – Capacity Remuneration Mechanism
On 4 April 2019, the Belgian Parliament approved a Bill on the capacity remuneration mechanism (CRM). The CRM complements the existing energy markets and ensures that sufficient capacity is available to secure the supply of electricity. This mechanism also meets the concerns of Belgian companies with the imminent nuclear phase-out by 2025. After all, a lot of people are wondering: Will there still be enough energy availability after the Belgian nuclear ‘exit’ to avoid blackouts at certain times? For further information on the energy capacity auctions (of which the first round starts in the fourth quarter of 2021), I refer to the following Dutch [...]
July 2019
Challenge regarding the application of a tax law in the domain of wind turbine
It is common for a municipality to adopt a tax regulation in the event of the presence of wind turbines on its territory. This regulation will in principle tax an amount per mast or per wind turbine, sometimes depending on the power of the latter. The legality of this taxation can be challenged on the basis of several arguments, including, in particular, the unenforceability of the tax regulation (irregular advertising), non-compliance with Articles 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution (principles of equality and non-discrimination, non-compliance with the principle of the motivation of administrative acts, exceeding the municipality's fiscal autonomy, etc.). [...]
Belgian offshore wind energy
On 4 April 2019, the Belgian Parliament adopted a law which establishes the general principles of the competitive bidding procedure (concurrerende inschrijvingsprocedure) for the realisation of new renewable energy projects in the North Sea, such as it is also the case in the neighbouring countries and in accordance with the European state aid rules. By choosing a competitive bidding procedure as a basis for the granting of domain concessions in the North Sea, the following four objectives were established to be realized by 2030 (cf. explanatory memorandum : https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/54/3581/54K3581001.pdf ): additional renewable energy capacity (at least 1,75 GW); a maximum of energy delivered to [...]