Denmark doesn’t lag behind other countries in offshore wind

There is nothing to suggest that Denmark lags behind other countries as an investment country for offshore wind turbines as Børsen wrote the19 May 2010. Within the last to three years we have commissioned or committed to new wind farms, which more than triples our electricity capacity at sea, Climate and Energy minister Lykke Friis writes in a letter to Børsen.

Sea wind will undoubtedly be an important factor in the government’s efforts to make Denmark independent from fossil fuels, because a very large proportion of potential renewable energy lies in offshore wind farms.

Terms of funding to be examined

However, we must accept that it is no longer just Denmark, which builds wind farms. Today, several countries, such as Britain, are in the midst of a large-scale expansion at sea in their efforts to meet EU’s renewable energy policy targets by 2020.

In general, this is good news for Danish wind turbine manufacturers, but it also carries the risk that countries will outbid each other with the most favourable terms of funding in their pursuit of the energy companies’ attention, which is in no one’s interest. I will therefore raise the issue of countries’ funding within the EU in response to Denmark’s and other EU countries’ submission of action plans to the Commission on the 30 June.

In Denmark, we are used to a fast and smooth processing of offshore projects, where the Danish Energy Agency coordinates the regulatory requirements and provides the key permissions. Moreover, in Denmark companies are guaranteed that the produced power from the park is taken off their hands immediately because Energinet.dk is obligated to ensure, that the power is brought into land as soon as the park is ready to produce. This arrangement is of great value to energy companies, but is not a matter of course abroad.

[mappress]

Source: copcap, May 27, 2010;