Genk (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Elia is connecting the Storm battery farm in Langerlo to the André Dumont substation in Genk via 270 m directional drilling. Project lead Joris Seghers plans a 6-year substation expansion from October 2026.
As VRT News reported, Grid operator Elia is connecting the Storm battery farm in Langerlo to the André Dumont high-voltage substation in Genk. The project involves laying an underground high-voltage cable.
To cross the railway line safely, Elia is using directional drilling, a precise technique that allows the cable to pass underground without interrupting train traffic. The total drilling distance is 270 meters. The drilling operation is expected to take 7 business days to complete.
“The drilling concept is simple, but the execution is complex,”
explains project leader Joris Seghers of Elia.
“We’ll first conduct a pilot drilling, creating a hole from our site to the other side. Then we’ll widen this hole, then pull conduits through it, which will ultimately house the energy and communication cables.”
How is Elia connecting the Storm battery farm to the Genk substation?
The directional drilling will connect the Storm battery farm in Langerlo to the electricity network. Once the connection is complete, the André Dumont high-voltage substation in Genk will reach its full capacity.
At that point, the substation will not be able to handle more electricity without upgrades. Elia has announced plans to expand the substation to meet rising energy demand and to secure the region’s electricity supply.
The expansion of the high-voltage substation will start in October 2026. The project will modernise and significantly enlarge the facility. The work is expected to take 6 years to finish.
“On the one hand, we’re going to provide more space to connect future players like data centres, industrial customers, and battery parks,”
Seghers explains.
“If we provide more space, we’ll also need more energy. That’s why we’re expanding with a second injection of 380 kilovolts.”
Belgium has seen similar projects in recent years. In Vilvoorde, ENGIE is building a large battery storage facility that can store electricity and release it when the grid needs it. In Limburg, the Green Turtle battery park is being developed to store energy from wind and solar farms and feed it back into the network.
