Zelzate – The Zelzate and Debbauts Tunnels in Belgium will undergo a closure starting from 9 p.m. on Friday, August 22, 2025, until 4 a.m. on Saturday, August 23, 2025, to facilitate the connection of 1,500 solar panels at Zelzate-West, according to Jef Schoenmaekers.
As VRT News reported, the Debbauts Tunnel and the Zelzate Tunnel, situated in East Flanders, will be inaccessible to traffic during this timeframe. This shutdown is necessary to link the newly installed solar panel system to the tunnels’ electrical network.
Recently, approximately 1,500 solar panels have been set up at the Zelzate-West complex, located between the R4 ring road and the E34 motorway leading to Antwerp. These panels will supply power to vital systems within the tunnels, such as lighting, ventilation fans, and water pumps.
Impact of Solar Panels on Tunnel Safety and Sustainability
Jef Schoenmaekers from the Roads and Traffic Agency stated that during the outage, critical systems including lighting, fans, and water pumps will be non-operational, posing safety risks for drivers. “Work on the tunnel lighting itself is also taking place that same night,” Schoenmaekers added.
“By combining both measures, the disruption will be limited to one night.”
During the closure, drivers are advised to use the R4 Ghent ring road and the nearby Zelzate Bridge. Authorities have also recommended that those traveling long distances from the coastline inland should take the E17 and E40 highways to avoid potential delays. The tunnels are set to reopen at 4 a.m. on August 23, 2025, resuming normal traffic without further interruptions throughout the day.
This initiative follows a solar-powered rail tunnel project near Antwerp, completed in 2011. In that project, 16,000 solar panels were installed on a 3.6-kilometer stretch of a high-speed rail tunnel, generating approximately 3.3 megawatt-hours of electricity annually—enough to power 4,000 trains each year and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions by 2,400 tons annually, reports 24brussels.
