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Discover Danish expertise at WindEurope 2024 in Bilbao

The upcoming edition of WindEurope Annual Event is set to take place in Bilbao in March 2024, bringing together discussions, talks, and collaborations on the current state of European wind energy. Danish wind expertise will once again be very well represented and on display at the Pavilion - Powered by Denmark.

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White paper: Wind energy - driving the global market

Download our white paper "Wind energy - driving the global market" and discover how wind is pushing the ambitions for a renewable energy transition.

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Wind energy, driving the global market white paper

Securing a stable and green energy supply

A paradigm shift is taking place on a global scale. We are witnessing a historic conversion of energy systems that are based on fossil fuels to ones powered by clean energy. Technological developments, growing political will and price decreases mean that the number of clean energy options are expanding.

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Discover Danish expertise at WindEurope 2024 in Bilbao

White paper: Wind energy - driving the global market

Securing a stable and green energy supply


Denmark has made great strides in wind energy, utilizing the power of the wind to generate clean, renewable electricity for millions of people. Despite being a geographically small country, Denmark has invested heavily in both onshore and offshore wind, making the country a leading player in the global wind energy industry.

With approximately 4.800 turbines accumulating 7.1 GW across land and sea, more than half of the Danish electricity consumption is covered by the wind blowing over the country’s sea and land.

Discover wind solutions

With the full value chain represented, Denmark is home to thousands of innovative wind solutions.

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Denmark: A pioneer in offshore wind energy

Denmark is by many considered the birthplace of offshore wind energy. In 1991, Denmark made history as the first country in the world to install a commercial offshore wind park. 11 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 5 MW were installed in the shallow waters off the coast of Vindeby in the southeast of Denmark.

Though modest in size, it was the beginning of a giant leap in wind energy on a global scale. Since the early 1990s, Denmark has continued to lead the way in the development and implementation of offshore wind technology, with a number of large-scale wind farms installed in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Wind turbines have become highly efficient and cost-effective, with the newest offshore models reaching up to 15 MW in size.

Denmark has 8,750 kilometers of coastline and is surrounded by shallow waters, which is ideal when harvesting the wind resource. Up till now, Denmark has installed 2.3 GW offshore wind, and is looking into a built-out of up to 14 GW before 2030.

One of the key factors in driving Denmark’s success in offshore wind has been a strong focus on technology development and investing in research, demonstration, and test facilities and today, Denmark is home to some of the world’s largest and most innovative offshore wind farms such as Kriegers Flak, which is the first offshore wind farm to have grid connection to two countries.

The strong Danish offshore wind ambitions also entail plans to construct the world’s firs energy island, exploiting the immense wind energy resources in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The plans envisage the establishment of an artificial island in the North Sea that will serve as a hub for offshore wind farms supplying 3-4 GW of energy, with a long-term expansion potential of 10 GW.

The island of Bornholm will serve as the energy hub in the Baltic Sea with electrotechnical infrastructure and the possibility of green hydrogen production connected to 3 GW offshore wind farms planned off the coast of the island. Both energy islands will have grid connections to neighboring countries and are thus part of a hub-and-spoke grid that enables electricity to flow across borders and supply clean energy to the regions surround both seas.

Denmark has a strong commitment to renewable energy and environmental sustainability. The country has set ambitious targets for reducing its carbon emissions, and offshore wind has played a major role in helping it achieve these goals.

Harnessing the power of nature

Denmark’s total capacity of onshore wind equals 4,593 MW, while the national offshore wind equals 2,306 MW.

Wind turbines in Denmark test

Onshore wind: The past, present, and future of wind energy in Denmark

Onshore wind turbines have been used in Denmark for over a century, initially for agriculture and later for electricity. The Danish physicist Poul la Cour experimented with wind energy already back in the late 1800’s, but the 1970’s oil crisis truly reignited interest and kickstarted the growth in commercial wind energy in Denmark. By the early 1980’s, around 20 wind turbine manufacturers were active in Denmark, starting with wind turbines in kilowatt-sizes, but technology development has led to modern onshore wind turbines in the size of up to 7 GW.

Today, Denmark is a world leader in wind energy, with the industry employing around 33,000 people. More than 4,100 wind turbines rotate in the wind that sweeps through the fields of rural Denmark, making it a proud hallmark of the green transition and a Danish stronghold that dates back more than four decades.

As Denmark invests heavily in electrification, wind energy will play an even more critical role in the county’s future. To reach the country’s ambitious climate targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the installation of wind energy in both onshore and offshore hubs will play a big part.

And going green makes sense from a financial perspective too. Through years of working with standardization of production and processes, technology development design optimization and cross-industrial collaboration, the wind industry has succeeded in driving down the cost of wind energy. As a result, both onshore and offshore wind energy are now the cheapest sources of energy in Denmark, outperforming any fossil fuel.

Embracing the winds of change

Since Denmark first embarked on its journey to invest in harnessing the power of wind a lot has happened. By 2030, Denmark anticipates reaching a 60 per cent wind power share.

Explore the Danish wind value chain

Dive into our digital visualisation of Denmark’s green wind value chain, and discover companies and organizations that specialise in wind-related technology, research, and innovation.

Discover the Danish wind value chain

Discover solution providers across the wind value chain

From R&D, installation and grid management to sustainable supply chains, Denmark covers the full spectrum of the wind industry. Discover cross-sectoral solutions across the entire Danish wind value chain in the digital visualisation below.

Discover the full wind value chain at greenvaluechains.com

 

Discover solutions across the wind value chain

Connect with wind experts and solution providers

partners

CHP

+19

Ørsted

25 January 2009
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities, and bioenergy plants.

partners

Wind energy

+13

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP)

25 November 2022
Founded in 2012, CIP today is the world’s largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. The funds managed by CIP focus on investments in offshore- and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity and storage, Power-to-X and advanced bioenergy.

partners

Wind energy

+8

Siemens Gamesa

25 January 2022
Siemens Gamesa is one of the world’s leading wind turbine suppliers who operate within both onshore and offshore wind as well as world-class maintenance.

partners

Energy efficiency

+11

RWE Renewables Denmark

25 October 2022
RWE is one of Europe’s leading energy companies – originating in Essen, Germany. RWE employs around 19,000 people worldwide and has a clear target: to get to net zero by 2040. On its way there, the company has set itself ambitious targets for all activities that cause greenhouse gas emissions.

partners

Offshore wind

+3

Vattenfall

13 August 2019
One of Europe's biggest producers and distributors of electricity and heat.

partners

Bioenergy

+40

Port Esbjerg

9 September 2021
Port Esbjerg is the North Sea’s leading port for offshore wind, base to the Danish offshore industry and an international hub for multimodal transport with six regular RoRo liner services.

partners

Offshore wind

+7

Odense Port

8 November 2022
Odense Port is one of Europes leading manufacturing ports within offshore wind. We have facilitated the production and load out of main components for 1.400+ offshore wind turbines.

partners

Buildings

+31

Port of Aalborg

17 November 2021
Port of Aalborg is more than a traditional port, transport hub and business park. We work with partnerships and collaboration. Sustainability and green transition. Symbioses and synergies. Knowledge and growth. Innovation and development. Transport and logistics. Local and global. Job creation and prosperity.... That is why, we dare to call Port of Aalborg "gate to great".

partners

Offshore wind

+3

Semco Maritime

11 February 2013

partners

Bioenergy

+13

Danish Energy Export

9 July 2014
Danish Energy Export creates your platform to the global energy industry.

partners

District energy

+12

Danish Energy Agency

15 April 2009
The Danish Energy Agency engages nationally and internationally in the production, supply and consumption of energy - with efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

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Offshore wind
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News

Climate partnerships

+18

Climate ministers convene in Denmark to set the course towards COP29

11 March 2024
For the third year running, COP discussions get off to an early start at the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial. This year’s ministerial, hosted by Denmark in cooperation with the former and current COP presidencies of the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan, will prepare the path towards a successful COP29 in Baku.

News

Wind farm planning and development

+8

One of the world's biggest turbines is being installed in Jutland, backed by local support

4 March 2024
Owned by a wind turbine co-operative of 2,800 members, a 15 MW wind turbine from Vestas is currently being installed in the small port city of Thyborøn in Jutland, Denmark.
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