Denmark’s new marine plan has excluded the allocation of space for future offshore wind farms under the country’s open door scheme, resulting in the suspension of the majority of projects.
A new plan proposed in the Danish Parliament expands the area of Denmark’s sea available for renewable energy projects and energy islands from approximately 15% to around 30%, however, it does not designate any space for projects that have not yet been approved under the country’s open door scheme.
Danish open-door procedure for offshore wind farms has been subject to debate for a while. A total of 33 projects were under assessment as part of the scheme. The process was suspended in February under suspicion that permits issued under the procedure could be in breach of EU rules. Nine of the pending open door projects had previously been assessed as approved, but the remaining 24 that have not been assigned an area will be denied a preliminary investigation permit.
Industry body Green Power Denmark said the move would see the country lose the production of at least 12 GW of green power and that it “betrays the confidence of companies that want to invest in the green transition”.
Andreas Karhula Lauridsen, head of offshore wind at European Energy sees the decision as very unfortunate for the industry.
“The expansion of green energy has come to a complete halt in Denmark, and today’s announcement from the government once again goes against the clear mandate that the Danish people gave to the politicians in the climate election of 2019, which was to accelerate the green transition and the deployment of renewable energy,” he said.
European Energy obtained full support from all the municipalities where it applied to establish new coastal offshore wind turbine projects, which the company said it had worked on for a long time.
“It is not just two years of wasted work in the service of the green transition but also a significant blow to the ambitious Danish municipalities that had relied on utilising their local offshore wind resources to support green growth, power-to-x projects, and the prospect of green jobs.”
