Belgian Government Offers Incentives to Steel Giant to Choose Country for Expansion

The government has now prepared a ‘letter of intent’ with which they want to convince the steel giant to choose our country after all. It is essential in this respect to reduce the energy bill. Since the expansion of the nuclear power plants, the government owns half of these plants, which allows them to offer electricity to their own companies.

“We can give large power users access to nuclear energy in exchange for a flexible contract,” says Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD). “This means they have to be willing to switch off when prices are high, for example due to the lack of wind power on the market. In addition, they need to maintain employment and invest in sustainability.”

The second element of the Belgian offer is the reduction in transmission rates which was approved in Parliament this week. The government can now decide to grant a price discount to the energy-intensive industry, financed through a public service obligation for which the Elia grid operator is compensated with general budget resources.

The third element of the offer is the aforementioned Flemish investment in Finocas, the joint venture between the steel company and the Flemish sector.