A new development has occurred in the Danish offshore wind energy space. The government has pledged to commission a 9 GW offshore wind tender as part of its efforts so as to quintuple domestic offshore wind capabilities by 2030.
It is well to be noted that 9 GW happens to be equivalent to the electricity consumption of 9 million households, and therefore the outcome of this step will be that the country will be able to offer energy flows across several regions of Europe. According to the Danish Minister of Energy, Lars Aagaard, the possibilities in offshore endeavours happen to be great, and that’s why they are now taking up negotiations in order to expand the current offshore wind capabilities by 9 GW. He added that his plans are to begin negotiations during March and that he looks forward to tendering the total capacity in the next year.
The 9GW was an outcome of a climate agreement that was brokered in June last year and passed by a majority in the Danish parliament. As per the minister, he plans to look into the possibilities of placing wind turbines within a short distance of each other so as to possibly go ahead with more than the current allocation of 9 GW. As per the current assessments, the capacity might go up to a significant extent as a result.
Aagaard says that their predictions make it look possible. He adds that if they were to work out an appropriate model and also get the rest of the parliament on board for it, then he expects that they could expand more than the projected 9 GW.
The announcement of the fresh 9W tender may very well be viewed in the prospect of the open-door ordinance having been placed on hold on the risk of violating the EU subsidy regulations. The open-door scheme lets developers to access the seabed sites that too free of charge. That said, offshore wind has gone on to become a profitable business, which has prompted developers to go ahead and pay for access to the site. Furthermore, the Danish government still waives the confirmation of plans so as to charge the developer a concession fee in the times to come. The energy minister opines that it is the Danish people’s money, and he happens to be a broker on behalf of the Danes.
Their main priority happens to be saving as many projects as may be possible, and they need to analyse the ordinance in its totality to see if the tweaks happen to be in order, and thereafter they will be able to give out a solution more specifically on how to set things up, which also includes potential concessions on payments.
