EIB / Elia: €1 billion loan for the second phase of the Princess Elisabeth Island offshore hub project

On 7 September 2026, the European Investment Bank (EIB) granted a €1 billion credit facility to Elia Transmissions Belgium, the operator of the Belgian electricity grid, to finance the second phase of its Princess Elisabeth Island project - the world’s first energy island - currently under construction 45 km off the coast in the North Sea.
Once completed, this 6-hectare island will serve as an energy hub to better connect existing and future wind power capacity to the Belgian grid, and will enable production to quadruple by 2031. Launched in 2024, the project is progressing, with the installation of the 23^rd and final caisson completed during the summer of 2026.

This loan, the largest ever granted by the EIB to an energy infrastructure project in the Benelux region, will finance, in…