Since the oil crisis of the 1970s, the Danish energy sector has developed significantly. In the mid-1980s, Denmark had a centralised structure for heat and power production. Large plants were located close to the larger cities or deep-water harbours.

A decade later, Denmark built most of the 700 local combined heat and power plants (CPH), which are now spread across the country. These plants were placed closer to smaller cities and villages to avoid transporting hot district heating water over long distances.  In addition to its district heating infrastructure, Denmark also has an extensive natural gas grid that delivers gas to many of the smaller decentralised CHP plants, as well as households and industries.

Future integrated energy system based on renewable energy

The Danish Parliament has set a legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and to become climate neutral by  2050.

An interim target is to ensure that at least 55 percent of total energy consumption and 100 percent of total electricity consumption is covered by renewable energy by 2030. To meet these political targets, the future energy system will need to be much more integrated with other sectors, and energy supply such as electricity, heating, gas and transport fuels will primarily be based on variable renewable energy. A successful transition requires extensive integration, balancing and storage efforts, as well as new infrastructure.

The road to climate neutrality

As electrification is one of the primary drivers to reach climate neutrality, new technologies and new infrastructure need to follow suit. When working with long-term planning, it is therefore important to have an early focus on initiatives that will have a future impact. The focus on electrification can be separated into different phases – with the first phase focusing on direct electrification. There are already market-ready technologies focusing on direct electrification, and this is where emissions can be cut immediately, for example through the roll-out of electric heat pumps and electric vehicles.

The next phase will focus more on indirect electrification, which means converting green electricity to green fuels through Power-to-X. Although still in its early phase, Power-to-X technologies convert renewables – namely wind and solar PV in the Danish case – into gasses or liquids, making it possible to decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors such as agriculture, heavy transportation and even aviation.