"The lights will go out," warns energy expert

Belgium could face a major power shortage by 2020, reports Het Laatste Nieuws. "The lights will go out," warns N-VA energy specialist and Flemish parliamentary representative Andries Gryffroy in the newspaper. Even with the extra solar panels and wind turbines that are to be installed by then, the country may face a major deficit, especially in the winter months, he says.

By the winter of 2020, Gryffroy (pictured) calculates that Belgium could face a deficit of up to 1,414 megawatt, or about half the amount produced by nuclear power. Such a large deficit is possible, he says, because of the planned phase-out of the conventional nuclear power stations in the coming years.

Additional solar panels and wind turbines can only make up for so much of the loss, says Gryffroy, and certainly in the winter months, when solar panels provide very little return.

"In principle, we can import electricity when necessary. But excess current always flows to the country with the largest deficit," he says in Het Laatste Nieuws. "And currently, the shortage in southern Germany is greater than here." Gryffroy's solution is to wait with the closure of the nuclear power stations.