Page 6 - Danish Offshore Industry 2020

THE HOME OF

OFFSHORE

WIND

The last five years on earth were the warmest in record- the de-ployment of offshore wind in Danish waters is far
ed history. Ocean water levels are rising at an alarming from over.
pace and we have seen record low extent of Arctic sea
ice. The United Nations’ IPCC Special Report on Global The 2018 Energy Agreement includes the establishment
Warming of 1.5-degree from the fall of 2018 clearly of three new offshore wind farms that will supply at
states that it will require high ambitions and hard work least 2,400 MW to the energy system by 2030. The
to curb warming at 1.5 degrees. Thor offshore wind farm is the first of the three to be
tendered and will be located in the North Sea, west of
Thankfully, there is also good news. Wind energy from Nissum Fjord, at a distance of minimum 20 km from the
the North Sea alone has the potential to provide elec- coast.
tricity to 100 million households in Europe and a recent
IEA report concluded that offshore wind could generate The favorable wind patterns in the North Sea makes it
11 times the world’s electricity demand. The IEA report an ideal site for offshore wind turbines. For this reason,
also concludes that offshore wind is now cheaper than the Energy Agreement sets a clear target to de-velop
conventional energy and that prices are expected to this area into a global offshore wind region through en-
drop by as much as 60 percent by 2040. The latest report hanced regional cooperation. In this regard, the Danish
from The World Bank esti-mates that global investments government is currently conducting the initial assessment
in offshore wind will exceed 4.500 billion DKK over the of a possible Danish energy hub with a capacity of min-
next ten years. imum 10 GW. The final decision on whether to build an
energy hub and where it will be located has not been
Therefore, as a global leader of offshore wind Denmark taken yet.
needs to continue pledging ambitious targets for
offshore wind deployment. Last year, a unified Danish I believe that companies, researchers, NGOs and the
Parliament set out to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at government need to work together in order for the
the latest. This year, our newly formed government has Danish offshore wind industry to become instrumental in
set a goal to reduce Denmark’s greenhouse gas emissions the global fight against climate change. By investing in
by 70 percent in 2030. Both targets will be legally bind- green energy, offering cutting edge solutions and bring-
ing and entail a concrete plan for monitoring progress. ing forward new technology, the Danish off-shore wind
industry can help pave and lead the way for a global
Part of the solution is further offshore wind deployment green transi-tion.
and everyone knows that Denmark is the home of off-
shore wind power. 2019 has also been an important year in regards to the
oil and gas activities in the Danish part of the North Sea.
The Danish success story has been written by visionary In January, the sale of American Chevron to the global
politicians, entrepre-neurial minded engineers and a oil super major Total S.A. was approved. Moreover, in
strong bold industry, as well as their willingness to work April, the sale of Shell to the Norwegian oil and gas com-
closely together. Today, we have 1,700 MW offshore pany Noreco was approved. Further-more after passing
wind capacity in Denmark. a bill regarding the Danish subsoils, exploration and
drilling for oil, gas and shale gas on land and in coastal
This August, we inaugurated the largest Danish offshore waters has officially ended.
wind farm to date, Horns Rev 3. Horns Rev 3 is placed
in the North Sea and will be able to cover the electricity In April, an agreement was settled with the Danish
consumption of 425,000 Danish households. However, Underground Consortium re-garding the modernization

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