Update wind energy park Bassenge: all appeals at the Council of State dismissed

20 January 2022

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The build of the Bassenge wind energy park is in full swing. After constructing all necessary access roads and foundations, masts are now starting to appear in the area. Even though the build so far went fine, until just before Christmas, the municipality of Riemst still had an appeal case running at the Council of State against the build.

All appeals dismissed 

The project officially is located in the Walloon region. However, the language border is just tens of meters away, which resulted in resistance running high in Flanders. However, one appeal after another was dismissed or dropped. Until just a couple of days ago, only the appeal launched by the municipality of Riemst to annul the permit was still running. After a long wait of many years, just before Christmas the Council of State dismissed the appeal. 

How is it the build did start, without official permit? 

Firstly, this appeal did not have a suspensive effect, enabling Elicio to legally start the build, albeit at their own risk. Elicio decided to do so after a solid, in-depth judicial analysis. It turned out the risk of the permit being revoked was so small, it made sense to start construction. Today, the Council of State indeed judged in favour of Elicio. 

Wind energy for 16,000 families

From next year, the turbines should start producing electricity. The wind energy park will consist of nine masts with a maximum height of 150 meters. With a capacity of 2.6 MW per unit, the nine wind turbines will be able to produce 56,000 MWh per year, equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 16,0000 households.