Page 37 - European Energy Innovation - autumn 2018 publication

Autumn 2018 European Energy Innovation 37
DENMARK WIND ENERGY
amounts of renewable electricity,
a main driver in the new energy
agreement is to secure the use of
electricity across sectors. Politically, wind farms, and thereby aims to
there are many good and strong
intensions in the agreement, among
them a decreased tax on use of
electricity in private heating and a
budget earmarked for improving
green transportation. This Autumn
a climate agreement will also be
formed, hopefully setting targets for a
larger expansion in the use of electric
vehicles. On this matter, Denmark still
has an unresolved potential.
Overall, the most recent energy
agreement is an expression of the
Danish awareness of the country’s
pioneering position, and the
climate agreement will hopefully
play into this.
IMPORTANCE OF MULTILATERAL
COOPERATION INCREASES
Because of the pioneering role
in both on- and offshore wind,
Denmark has played a leading role in
forming the North Sea declaration. A
declaration which, together with nine
other countries bordering the North
Sea, brings about a regulatory and a
more strategic take on the expansion
of offshore wind in the region.
With a number of working groups
and changing presidencies across
the participating countries, the goal
is to take a regionally more aligned
approach towards renewable built-
out e.g. by unifying standards for
lighting, colours and other technical
aspects, that vary across markets
today. With uniform requirements
production can be simplified and
thereby reduce the cost of the
individual offshore wind farm.
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On a strategic level, the North Sea
declaration also seeks to coordinate
timelines for coming offshore
mitigate the risk of bottlenecks,
where multiple wind farms are
to be installed at the same time.
A more widespread pipeline will
have a positive impact on the use
of installation vessels, logistics
and overall production in the wind
industry value chain, leading to lower
peak costs.
The North Sea declaration has strong
support from the wind industry, and
the industry also takes part in the
ongoing work and recommendations.
The importance of the cooperation
across the North Sea is immense. It
is my hope that the future will bring
about more multilateral cooperation
regarding barriers for development of
renewable energy and electrification.
Increased cooperation on a regional
level will play an important role along
side the political frameworks and
goals set on an EU-level for 2030
and beyond to further boost the
deployment of renewables in a more
cost-efficient way and thus making the
appetite for RES sources even larger.
The cooperation can take on many
forms, including share of good sites
for wind energy. The North Sea has
the potential to generate twice as
much electricity as the current
production from Europe’s coal fired
powerplants. This also means that
countries in e.g. Central or Eastern
Europe could install offshore wind in
the North or Baltic Sea to meet the
EU conditions related to the
32% renewable goal set recently
by the EU. l