Copenhagen (energate) - The acceleration of offshore wind power development off the coast of Denmark is taking shape. In order to actually achieve the self-set and recently tightened targets, the Danish government has launched public hearings on the environmental compatibility of central offshore wind power projects, announced the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) as the responsible authority. The issue is the expansion of the government's offshore wind tenders by "at least" 9,000 MW by 2030.
2,000 MW of the projects ready for tender as soon as possible relate to the planned Baltic Sea wind power hub near the island of Bornholm. In 2022, the Danish government had expanded the targeted total capacity of this so-called energy island by 1,000 MW to a total of 3,000 MW. Denmark has already been working on the construction of comparable
energy islands in the North Sea for some time.
Consultation until the end of March
The consultation now launched will run until the end of March 2023. It relates to three wind farm projects which, according to current planning, are to extend over eight construction phases with a total of 7,515 MW from 537 wind turbines. Stakeholders and the public have the opportunity to view the plans and comment on them. In detail, these are the projects 'Hesselø', 'Kriegers Flak 2', both Baltic Sea, and 'Nordsøen1' (North Sea), where wind turbines of the 15 MW class are to be used as far as possible. For the Baltic Sea projects, a new grid connection station on land is also planned. Where exactly the three large-scale projects are to be realised is still the subject of a further political decision following the ongoing consultation process.
EU state aid law: 20,000 MW on hold
Elsewhere, Denmark's short-term offshore expansion goals have recently been thrown into disarray. The EU Commission considers one of the two tendering procedures established by the Danish krone (so-called open-door tenders) to be questionable under state aid law. Therefore, the DEA had
suspended permits on a large scale at the beginning of February. This put 25 construction projects totalling 20,000 MW on hold until further notice. One of the project developers to suffer is the Danish state-owned company Ørsted. The EU Commission's investigations are still ongoing (as of 7 March). /pa
