Welcome to IEA Wind Member Country Activities for Denmark 2011

Approximately 22.5% of Denmark’s energy consumption came from renewable sources in 2011, 38.9% from oil, 18.9% from natural gas, and 17% from coal. The production from wind turbines alone corresponded to 28% of the domestic electricity supply, compared to 21.9% in 2010. This is due to a 9% reduction in overall electricity production in the last year alone, along with a 25% increase in wind energy production. The opening photo is from the DTU Høvsøre test station.

Wind power capacity in Denmark has increased by 206 MW in 2011, bringing the total to 3,952 MW (Table 1). All the installed wind turbines were onshore in 2011, except for one 3.6-MW (Siemens) turbine at Hvidovre, just south of Copenhagen. This is the last of the three planned turbines acting as an offshore demonstration turbine, placed in shallow waters and close to shore. This was also the largest rated turbine to be installed in 2011.

In November 2011, the Danish government published its Our Energy Future (2), an ambitious future energy plan to convert its energy and transport system to a 100% renewable one by 2050. Wind, especially offshore, is to contribute significantly to this, with a strategic milestone of 50% of electricity consumption to be covered by wind power by 2020 alone. Furthermore, as the technology is already cost effective, it is included in the short to medium term implementations to replace existing capacity in the next 10 to 20 years. Subsequently The Danish Energy Agreement of March 2012 has been reached by a large and broad majority in the Danish Parliament.The agreement maintains the long-term goal for Danish energy policy: that the entire energy supply is to be covered by renewable energy by 2050.