By Rikki Stancich in Paris

Last month, Danish wind energy giant Dong Energy announced its decision to focus on offshore wind, saying it had no plans to pursue new onshore wind projects in Denmark.

The company was taken by surprise when local and overseas media reports construed the announcement as signalling Dong's ‘exit’ from the Danish onshore wind market, and that its decision was taken in response to growing opposition to onshore wind energy, which in turn had created pressure to curb wind subsidies.

According to Dong Energy, the Ministry for Climate and Energy, and the Danish Wind Industry Association, the announcement was grossly misinterpreted.

As Dong Energy spokesperson Andreas Krug points out, “Dong Energy hasn’t built an onshore turbine in Denmark for the last five years, so we are hardly ‘exiting’ the onshore wind market.”

As for possible subsidy cuts, the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy confirmed that there have been no subsidy cuts to speak of - nor will there likely be any in the foreseeable future.

“There have been no changes to wind subsidies or any other policies relating to wind,” confirmed Jesper Bülow Zølck, spokesperson for the Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy.

Referring to the generous feed-in tariff – just over 1 kroner/kWh in 20 TWh -  recently awarded by the Danish authorities for construction of the 400MW Anholt offshore wind farm, Krug said: “What subsidy cut?”

Zølck added: “The one thing we are looking at is whether the bidding process could be carried out differently for offshore wind farms, as well as possible penalties for bidders that fail to fulfill their obligations.” Dong Energy was the sole bidder for the Anholt contract.

Maximised capacity

Denmark is a small country – roughly a fifth of the size of UK – yet has the highest amount of wind energy capacity per square kilometer in Europe, with 20% of its electricity needs met by wind power, according to an EWEA report.

Given land constraints, an on-going build-out of onshore wind is unlikely, says Zølck. “But if the government has its way, the capacity of onshore wind will increase,” he adds.

In any case the potential for re-powering existing, less efficient turbines presents a significant market value – and is an area that Dong Energy is looking at. “We have 2-3 onshore re-powering projects in the pipeline,” says Krug. “In this respect, Dong Energy is still present in Denmark’s onshore wind market,” he adds.

Where is the opposition?

Media reports relating to Dong’s announcement inferred that there is growing opposition to onshore wind energy. But according to the Ministry of Climate and Energy and the Danish Wind Energy Association, there has been very little direct opposition to onshore wind in Denmark.

According to both organisations, the only notable case of public opposition to a project was in the case of the proposed Thy Wind Test Centre, in the Northern Jutland of Denmark. But this had less to do with the proposed test turbines than with the siting impact, they say.

The project involves building seven, 250 metre high turbines and cutting down 550 hectares of forest in order to create the appropriate wind conditions for testing.

“The opposition was to cutting down the trees, and was not because of the turbines,” explains Rune Dirk Nielsen, spokesperson for the DWIA. The project has since downwardly revised the acreage of forest to be felled to 105 hectares.

According to Nielson, there has been very little public opposition to onshore wind and if anything, the Danish public is supportive of it.

“Three months ago the Danish financial broadsheet, Dagbladet Børsen, published a poll on public opinion relating to onshore wind. The poll results indicated that 87% of those polled were in favour of onshore wind expansion,” he said.

Offshore more efficient than onshore

Currently Dong Energy has roughly 50 small onshore projects, totaling a combined 200MW. This amounts to the same capacity as Dong’s offshore wind farm Horns Rev 2, which comprises 91, 2.3MW turbines.

“It just makes sense to build offshore,” says Krug. “You get much larger capacity with one offshore wind farm than you do for many smaller onshore projects,” he adds. Dong Energy’s current wind project portfolio comprises less than 10% of onshore projects and over 90% of offshore projects.

Among its host of offshore wind projects, the company is currently constructing the Walney offshore wind farm, which will initially comprise of 51, 3.6MW turbines; it has 50% ownership of the London Array offshore wind farm, phase one of which involves the installation of 175 turbines with a combined capacity of 630MW; it has a 25% stake in the 250MW Lincs offshore wind farm; and it is about to start construction on the 400MW Anholt wind farm off the coast of Denmark.

Explaining Dong Energy’s decision to focus on offshore wind, Krug explains: “ There is a much better wind resource; there is more space and no neighbours, so fewer possible opposition cases; we have extensive experience in offshore operations; and you get much larger capacity with one offshore wind farm than you do for an onshore project.”

That is not to say that Dong has turned its back on onshore wind farms elsewhere. This year the company installed a combined 100MW of onshore wind in three wind farms located in Poland, Norway, and Sweden.

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Image credit: Dong Energy