Floating solar technologies - FPS Public Health

ICT solution: Floating solar technologies & eVTOL drones

The Federal Public Service, Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment of Belgium aims to develop new solutions for offshore solar energy in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The ICT innovation would allow multi-use of space and sensor use for a robust floating solar solution to achieve efficient and effective energy production. 

Building on the needs identified within this project, FOD VVVL defined a use case aligned with the objectives of the EU Ocean Pact, outlining the capabilities required for future control and enforcement, environmental monitoring, maintenance support, maritime security, and crisis response. In this context, the kick off project supported by EAFIP was the Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) of offshore-deployable eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) drone-technology.
 

Key  technologies:  

• Renewable energy
• Floating solar power
• Sensors 
• Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) offshore drone-technology

Procurer: Federal Public Service, Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment (FOD VVVL) 

Type of innovation procurement:  Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI)

Preliminary market consultation:  Non-piloted aircraft – Open Market Consultation for the Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI) of Offshore eVTOL Drones. 
Notice published 7-10-2025:  656262-2025 - Planning - TED 
Publication Belgium BOSA e-Procurement platform: BOSA - eProcurement  (Dutch)

Call for tender: Call for tender published 26 March 2026 on the Belgian Public Procurement Platform: DGEM/MM/WB/26016_pub01

Budget invested by the procurer:  10.5 Million (estimated for floating solar) and 70K for eVTOL drone testing 

More information:  https://www.health.belgium.be/en   

To the specific tender: 
Needs assessment and state of the art analysis, conducting open market consultations, building a business case and drafting tender documents

To the general procurement of the organisation: 
Best practices for innovation procurement

EAFIP supported this project in the full preparation phase up: from needs assessment and the State-of-the-Art (SOTA) analysis, to the Open Market Consultation for the Public Procurement of Innovative solutions (PPI) of Offshore eVTOL Drones (published October 2025) and the development of the tender documentation (tender published March 2026). 
The lessons learned on innovation procurement throughout the project will be used in future projects FOD VVVL will undertake.