Wind Energy in Denmark
2020 wind energy numbers
The wind power capacity in Denmark has been stable around 6 GW for nearly 4 years. Installed total wind power capacity increased by 220 MW onshore capacity and no new offshore capacity in 2020. This brings Denmark’s total capacity to 6.311 GW of which 1.7 GW is offshore. Although the Covid-19 pandemic caused a decrease in the domestic energy consumption in 2020, it has not affected the wind deployment or R&D much.
Wind-generated electricity met 48.0% of the domestic electricity supply in 2020 compared to 47.2% in 2019. This is still by far the highest share globally, and the share could have reached a new record of around 51% if the production from wind turbines had not been curtailed.
The total production from the country’s wind turbines in 2020 was a national record of 16.35 TWh, which is an increase compared to 16.15 TWh in 2019.
To read more about Denmark’s wind energy sector, read their chapter in the IEA Wind TCP 2020 Annual Report.
National Targets
In accordance with the Energy Agreement published on the 29th of June 2018 and supported by all political parties in the Danish Parliament, the Danish target by 2030 still is that 55% of the nation’s energy needs are met by renewable energy, mainly wind and solar.
With the political climate agreement of 22 June 2020, it was decided to initiate the work of realizing two energy islands, and in November 2020, the Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities decided to reserve the gross areas in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea for the world’s first energy islands.
Progress & Operational Details
2020 was a year in which the German neighbors to a much greater extent than before paid Danish electricity producers – including many wind turbine owners – to periodically reduce production. The German electricity grid has not been expanded sufficiently in line with the installation of large amounts of wind and solar. The green power from Denmark and northern Germany cannot reach consumers in southern Germany, as congestion occurs in the high-voltage grid. Danish wind turbines were shut down even more due to stricter requirements to make capacity available on the West Danish-German border, while there are still expansion projects in the electricity grid on both the German and Danish sides, which during the construction period reduced the capacity of the wires – just as when motorway extensions create bottlenecks for traffic.
National RDD Priorities and Budget
There was a small decline in public R&D budgets for wind energy in 2020. Ten new granted EUDP projects with a total granted amount of 113.188 mill. DKK (15.167 mill. EUR, 18.563 mill. USD). In 2019, 15 projects were granted. 83 running wind energy projects funded by IFD and EUDP and a few granted of the Independent Research Fund Denmark.
The two largest public funding programs related to technical and societal energy solutions are The Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP), administrated by The Danish Energy Agency, and Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD). Green Labs supports the establishment of large-scale test facilities for demonstration of new climate technologies.
EUDP presented a new investment strategy in 2020. The focus areas for wind are new materials, durability, recycling of turbine blades, better wind data, as well as challenges in upscaling.
Contact
Find address, contact information, and opening hours for the Danish Energy Agency.
Danish Energy Agency
Carsten Niebuhrs Gade 43
1577 Copenhagen V
Denmark
Opening hours (CET)
Monday – Thursday from 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m
Friday from 8.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
Any Question at
+45 33 92 67 00
Send your mail at
ens@ens.dk