Denmark, already a historical leader in the global wind sector, is living up to its position to this day. In 2019, the country generated 50% of its electricity from renewable power sources, 47% of it is from wind, and the rest from solar. That trumps their previous record of nearly 46% electricity from wind and solar in 2017.
The state-owned electricity company Energinet said of the 2019 record:
Once we thought that the power system could handle the maximum of 5% of the power being produced as the wind blew and the sun was shining. Fortunately, we have become smarter!
The trend is only fixed to continue as the Danish are in pursuit of an emissions reduction goal of 70% by 2030 (compared to 1990), blessed by law to happen. The nation has recently declared major initiatives in offshore wind, as well as green hydrogen production, all a part of their aspirations to decarbonize. It has even begun to focus efforts on energy transitions in hard to decarbonize sectors such as transportation and heating.
The Horns Rev 3 offshore wind farm went online in 2019, which is why there was such a prominent rise in power generation from wind. Jan Hylleberg, CEO of Wind Denmark, which represents the Danish wind turbine industry, stated to dr.dk:
It’s primarily the endorsement of Horns Rev 3 that has increased output, but it’s also related to the fact that 2019 has been a somewhat better wind year than 2018.
The massive wind farm is located west of Denmark in the North Sea. It alone can cover the yearly electricity consumption of approximately 425,000 households – which is around 20% of the homes in the entire country. It’s the country’s largest offshore wind farm consisting of 49 Vestas V164-8.3 MW turbines that give it a total capacity of 407 MW.
There are two more wind farms currently under construction, which should nudge Danish wind power up to 60% electricity generation by the early 2020s. One is the 600 MW offshore wind farm Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea. It’s planned to be connected to the electricity grid (for Denmark and Germany) by 2021. The other is the 800 MW offshore wind farm Thor in the North Sea. That one is scheduled to be connected to the electricity grid by 2025.
Hylleberg predicts that in ten years, wind and solar power will have increased by more than double. With all the new wind energy systems in the works, the Danish goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 is becoming an achievable target.
