Denmark unveils giant 1.45GW offshore windpower plan
Denmark has revealed details of a large scale ramp-up of offshore wind power generation before the end of this decade.
The country's energy agency unveiled the tender process for a huge 1.45GW of offshore capacity on Tuesday at the European Wind Energy Association annual conference in Vienna.
According to a timetable presented by Danish Energy Agency policy advisor Peter Sehestedt, the 400MW Horns Rev 3, the 600MW Kriegers Flak and a small number of near-shore projects totalling 450MW will all begin generating by 2020. Each near-shore project will be no larger than 200MW.
Kriegers Flak will be linked to the German grid as well as the Danish one, according to Danish grid operator Energinet.dk project manager Betina Haugaard. The connecting cable also will operate as an interconnector between the two countries, she said, although its import/export capacity is yet to be finalised.
The schemes will allow Denmark to reach its target of producing 50% of its consumed power from renewable sources by 2020, Danish Energy Agency senior advisor Lisbeth Nielsen said.
The country is seeking to run as transparent a tendering process as possible to increase competition from developers and keep costs to a minimum. "You might think that because we are civil servants that we would be 'red tape' personified," Sehestedt said. "But I assure you that is not the case."
Wind power has been the subject of much debate in Europe with some countries experiencing negative or zero pricing on spot electricity contracts at periods of high supply (see EDEM 27 December 2012 and 23 January 2013).
Denmark intends to negate this through a relatively high electricity export capacity coupled with flexible consumption, Nielsen said.
The country has a long-term goal in place to be independent of fossil fuels by 2050, overseen by its centre-left coalition government. Jamie Stewart
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