GREEN GROWTH: FROM RELIGION TO REALITY - Sustainia

Chapter 41.2.4 Infrastructure investmentThe development of district heating grids began in the1950s but was accelerated as energy policy became explicitduring this first part of the Danish energy story.Furthermore, it enabled the introduction of natural gasand CHP plants in electricity production, as a large distributionnetwork for natural gas was unnecessary – thedistribution grid was already in place in the shape of districtheating and electricity grids, to which CHP plantscould be connected (Grohnheit, 2001). This massively decreasedthe capital costs of a natural gas grid, thus renderingit a desirable policy option. As we shall see below, thewidespread existence of district heating grids in Denmarkbecomes crucial in understanding the current policy shift.1.3 ResultsAs alluded above, the exploration of oil and natural gas inthe North Sea went a long way towards achieving the objectiveof energy security during the 1980s. This is not tosay that energy security lost priority. Energy security inorder to sustain economic growth remained the primarypriority of Danish energy policy, and although becominga net exporter of oil by 1995 meant that the Danish economywould now also benefit from future increases in theprice of oil, the fact that oil is traded in a world marketmeans that oil-consuming parts of the economy wouldstill be exposed to any future ‘oil shocks’. In that sense,becoming a net exporter of oil acted as a sort of hedge forthe overall economy, but further diversification of the en-ergy mix to ensure stable economic growth in the rest ofthe economy remained a central driver of energy policy.2 Green growth part II: The auken years(1993 – 2001)2.1 A new layer of politics: the rise of environmentalismAfter the 1993 elections a new social democratic-led governmentcame into power, and with it came a significantaddition to energy policy. The policies of previous yearswere largely carried on, but following the the World Commissionon Environment and Development’s publicationof “Our Common Future” (1987) – better known as theBrundtland Report for its chair, former Prime Ministerof Norway Gro Brundtland – environmental concernsbecame an increasingly important issue in public debate.This led to increased focus on the environmental benefitsof renewable energy under the tenure of Minister ofEnergy and the Environment Svend Auken (1993-2001).“The energy plan of 1996 “Energy 21”, contained morethan 100 initiatives designed to reduce CO2 emissions.”(Karnøe & Buchhorn, 2008:76)Among these were an annual target of 1% additionalrenewable energy in the energy supply, electricity taxesto finance energy efficiency programs, continued supportfor investments in district heating grids, and continuedsupport for the development of oil and gas resourcesin the north sea (Danish Government 1996). AsWind power's share of electricity 1980-2009MW3500Off-shore Capacity (MW)On-shore Capacity (MW) Wind power share of total inland production (%)25 %3000250020 %200015 %150010 %10005005 %01980 ´85 ´90 ´95 ´00 ´05 ´090 %Figure 5: On-shore capacity increased rapidly during the 90s while off-shore capacity began increasing on the early 00s and again inthe late 00s. The total share of wind in inland electricity production grew steadily until the mid 00s.Source: DEA 2010:9Green Growth: From religion to reality 35