Denmark’s bid for 100% renewable energy
December 14, 2011
Denmark has long been involved in the renewable energy sector and the implementation of smart grids and meters. About 45% of power is currently derived from coal, a further 20% from oil and gas, and 30% from various renewables.
The government recently announced that it will phase out coal and oil-based electricity generation by 2030, leading to 100% renewable energy by 2050. Part of the shift will be in the wind energy sector: the country secures 20% of its power from wind turbines, which it hopes to raise to 52% by 2020.
The government will use its six-month presidency of the EU, effective from January 2012, to encourage other EU member states to reshape their energy policies to 2020 to incorporate more renewables. The Danish government’s projected cost for the programme is estimated at DKK5.6 billion, while considerable additional investment in renewable energy and technologies energy is expected from business and households as well.
Hand in glove with the emphasis on renewables is the development of the country’s smart grid infrastructure. Smart grids are spearheaded by the largest energy company DONG Energy (formed in 2006 through the merger of six companies involved in electrical and gas distribution and sales, power generation, and oil and gas exploration, and bought by the incumbent TDC in 2009). By early 2011 about 20% of Danish homes were passed with fibre (about a quarter of these are covered by DONG Energy which). DONG Energy has teamed with IBM to implement an Intelligent Utility Network, installing smart meters to provide the company with data on the state of the energy grid. The benefits of the system include a potential halving of outage minutes, a reduction in fault search time by a third, and estimated capital savings on grid reinforcements of up to 90%.
Energinet.dk, the Danish Transmission System Operator, has developed a system to keeps constant the power flows between local distribution networks and the transmission grid. The system communicates with power plants forming part of the on the low voltage side of the transformer, receiving information from production plants and sending orders back. Tests in late 2010 were undertaken on a grid serving 28,000 consumers, four CHP plants and 47 wind turbines, while a full-scale test was undertaken in 2011.
Henry Lancaster, Senior Analyst BuddeComm
For more information see: The updated report Europe - Smart Grid Developments - 2011.
