STERNA 2050

Project Overview

The STERNA 2050 project brings together an industrial/academic consortium to research the contribution superconducting offshore connection systems can have on the decarbonisation and security of supply of Belgium by 2050.

The project is named for Sterna, Latin for Arctic Tern, which is a small light-weight sea bird, with the longest migration route of any animal in the world, linking different climate zones throughout the year.

The project is led by SuperNode Ltd and funded by the Belgian Government’s Energy Transition Fund. The project duration is 24 months.

Partners

The consortium is made up of core partners SuperNode Ltd (Project leader, Industry), DEME (Industry), 3E (Industry), KU Leuven (Academia). Umicore (Industry) is involved in an advisory role.

Background

The ambitious EU climate targets established by European Climate Law require an accelerated deployment of renewable energy. Offshore renewables are critical to Europe’s ability to meet its climate and energy independence goals. Reaching these goals will require dramatically increased power system capability and flexibility, provided for by increased interconnection and innovative grid infrastructure, not least in the offshore space where no grids exist today.

 

Massive amounts of renewable energy capacities will require matching transmission capacities. Hundreds of GWs need to be transmitted from the offshore generation sites into mainland Europe. This will either require a massive amount of connections using today’s technology, or a fundamental technology upgrade.

 

The dual challenge of overhead line planning on land and technology deficiency of underground and sub-sea cable technology, limited to 1GW per cable, means that there is a strong and urgent need for new innovative grid technologies to facilitate efficient, long range, bulk power transfer both in the onshore and offshore space. The project will investigate all technology options, but will place special attention on superconducting cables which have not received sufficient attention thus far.

Objectives

STERNA 2050 investigates the potential contribution of superconducting system technologies to the security of supply, the increased renewable energy share for Belgium and the associated socioeconomic balance.

A complementary academic – industrial consortium will investigate:

  1. Characterisation of the future North Sea Green Power Plant of Europe 2030 – 2040 – 2050
  2. Assessment of transmission technology options needed for 2050
  3. Characterisation and impact assessment of superconducting system technologies – environment, materials, lifetime economics
  4. Installation & lifetime integrity of a superconducting system.

Project Outcomes

The project demonstrated the potential benefits that superconducting offshore connections can bring to decarbonisation and the security of supply to the Belgian Grid. It concluded in February 2026 with an output webinar which outlines these benefits, the presentation can be found here and the webinar can be viewed below.