Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Tuesday
Possible blackouts in Denmark this winter, a significant gas leak off Bornholm, and the health minister's answer to concerns about Covid vaccine underdosing are among the top news stories in Denmark on Tuesday.
Electricity blackouts possible in Denmark this winter
The Danish Energy Agency sees an increased risk that private customers will have their power temporarily cut off — depending on the weather.
"If we now hit a very hard, cold winter, and the wind is calm at the same time, so we don't have energy from the wind turbines, then we will be in a place where we have a stressed energy system," agency director Kristoffer Böttzauw told broadcaster DR.
However, current weather forecasts suggest the situation isn't likely to be that dire. Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, told DR that he considers such shutoffs unlikely.
The authorities can usually tell about a day in advance if demand is likely to exceed supply, giving them time to make large consumers — on industrial scales — cut down, Ritzau reports.
But if authorities aren't successful, there could be blackouts for private customers. They would last two hours at a time for specific areas across the country, and customers aren't notified in advance.
READ MORE: Danish heating company asks customers not to turn on heating
Gas leak in Russian pipe off coast of Denmark
Nord Stream 2, an underwater pipeline created to run gas from Russia to Germany that was shut down before becoming operational, appears to have sprung a leak after an unexplained pressure drop within the pipe.
Authorities have spotted a “large bubble field near Bornholm”, a Danish island in the Baltic, Nord Stream 2 spokesman Ulrich Lissek told the Agence France-Presse.
Preliminary assessments suggest environmental damage in the area of the leak.
On Tuesday morning, the Swedish Maritime Administration reported that two additional leaks have been found on sister pipeline Nord Stream 1 — one in Danish waters and another in Swedish territory, but both northeast of Bornholm.
READ MORE: Germany and Denmark investigate Russian pipeline pressure drop
Health minister to address Covid vaccine underdosing
Magnus Heunicke, the Danish minister of health, has convened Parliament's health rapporteurs to discuss the possibility that millions of people vaccinated for Covid in Denmark received too low a dose.
An investigation by DR, partnering with the Danish Technological Institute, suggests that instructions provided by Danish health authorities in the hopes of stretching the limited supply of vaccines led to 10 percent underdoses of Pfizer-BioNTech shots.
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Electricity blackouts possible in Denmark this winter
The Danish Energy Agency sees an increased risk that private customers will have their power temporarily cut off — depending on the weather.
"If we now hit a very hard, cold winter, and the wind is calm at the same time, so we don't have energy from the wind turbines, then we will be in a place where we have a stressed energy system," agency director Kristoffer Böttzauw told broadcaster DR.
However, current weather forecasts suggest the situation isn't likely to be that dire. Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, told DR that he considers such shutoffs unlikely.
The authorities can usually tell about a day in advance if demand is likely to exceed supply, giving them time to make large consumers — on industrial scales — cut down, Ritzau reports.
But if authorities aren't successful, there could be blackouts for private customers. They would last two hours at a time for specific areas across the country, and customers aren't notified in advance.
READ MORE: Danish heating company asks customers not to turn on heating
Gas leak in Russian pipe off coast of Denmark
Nord Stream 2, an underwater pipeline created to run gas from Russia to Germany that was shut down before becoming operational, appears to have sprung a leak after an unexplained pressure drop within the pipe.
Authorities have spotted a “large bubble field near Bornholm”, a Danish island in the Baltic, Nord Stream 2 spokesman Ulrich Lissek told the Agence France-Presse.
Preliminary assessments suggest environmental damage in the area of the leak.
On Tuesday morning, the Swedish Maritime Administration reported that two additional leaks have been found on sister pipeline Nord Stream 1 — one in Danish waters and another in Swedish territory, but both northeast of Bornholm.
READ MORE: Germany and Denmark investigate Russian pipeline pressure drop
Health minister to address Covid vaccine underdosing
Magnus Heunicke, the Danish minister of health, has convened Parliament's health rapporteurs to discuss the possibility that millions of people vaccinated for Covid in Denmark received too low a dose.
An investigation by DR, partnering with the Danish Technological Institute, suggests that instructions provided by Danish health authorities in the hopes of stretching the limited supply of vaccines led to 10 percent underdoses of Pfizer-BioNTech shots.
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