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Denmark’s renewable energy use passes landmark and is poised to grow in 2020s

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Denmark’s renewable energy use passes landmark and is poised to grow in 2020s
File photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Over half of Denmark's energy in 2019 came from renewable sources, marking the first time the country has hit the 50 percent mark.

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Figures from 2019 show the landmark use of renewable energy.

In 2018, the country took 43.5 percent of its energy from solar and wind power, while the figure for 2017 was just under 46 percent.

The data comes from state-owned company Energinet, which runs Denmark’s power grid.

Wind energy played a particularly decisive role in drawing the number for renewable energy use over the 50 percent mark. 47 percent of Denmark’s green energy is sourced from wind and the remainder from solar panels.

A major new wind farm, Horns Rev 3, opened in 2019, making a major contribution to wind energy production.

READ ALSO: 12 percent of Danish wind energy to be produced by giant new offshore farm

The wind farm is located 29-44 kilometres of Esbjerg on Denmark’s west coast and can supply the annual energy consumption of around 425,000 households.

“It is primarily the connection of Horns Rev 3 which has driven up (production), and there’s also the fact that 2019 was a better year for wind than 2018,” said Jan Hylleberg, CEO of industry interest organisation Wind Denmark.

Electricity from solar and wind power has more than doubled in Denmark over the last decade, and Hylleberg predicted that wind will supply 60 percent of the country’s needs in the early 2020s.

That is related to another new wind farm – Kriegers Flak in the Baltic Sea east of Denmark – which is scheduled to begin operating by 2021.

In 2018, parliament agreed to build a further three wind farms by 2030. The forst of these three, Thor, is scheduled for completion in 2025.

The new government has meanwhile targeted construction of two additional wind farms by 2030.

“There will be a lot of wind in the energy system in the coming years,” Hylleberg said.

Before Christmas, a broad parliamentary majority backed a new climate law which states greenhouse emissions in Denmark must be reduced by 70 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

The country aims to be CO2-neutral by 2050.

READ ALSO: Environmental organizations cheer 'historic' Danish climate goal

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