Belgium opened the way for more than 700MW of offshore wind to advance off its coast after agreeing a sharply-reduced €79/MWh ($91/MWh) support package with developers of the three projects.

The country’s energy minister Marie Christine Marghem said the new agreement offers big savings to taxpayers compared to the €138/MWh pledged to earlier offshore wind projects in Belgian waters.

A shadow was cast over the Mermaid (232MW), Seastar (246MW) and Northwester 2 (224MW) projects in April this year when the Belgian government said it was considering revoking concessions for the projects in the light of tumbling offshore power prices across Europe, including zero-subsidy bids in Germany.