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From coal to offshore wind
Another strong Danish company within
offshore wind farms is DONG Energy. The
company works to replace coal by offshore
wind energy, and has a pipeline of new
Northern European offshore wind projects
coming up before 2010, worth 15 billion
DKK.
- We have a considerable portfolio of coalbased
power plants, and we would like
to change the balance in our total energy
production, so that a larger part comes from
renewable energy. In this way we do not just
rely on one energy type, and we become less
sensitive to variations in the availability of
raw materials, CEO Anders Eldrup states,
while presenting the future strategies of
DONG Energy.
In the UK DONG Energy is the operator of
the Barrow Offshore Wind Farm, which went
into production in 2006. The Gunfl eet Sands
and Gunfl eet Sands II wind farms are presently
being installed seven kilometres from
the English coast outside the Thames. Burbo
Banks is another UK offshore wind farm
owned by DONG Energy.
Danish Vestas and Danish-based Siemens
Wind Power are supplying almost all of the
wind turbines used worldwide on the offshore
market.
Stable development
Offshore wind turbines have been a technical
challenge for Danish suppliers and operators
of wind farms. Especially the extreme
weather conditions have posed major initial
challenges, on the ocean with large waves
giving a low accessibility for installation and
for maintenance, and with the salty seawater
giving many nasty surprises on the fi rst pilot
offshore wind farms.
Denmark was however in the happy situation
to have a thriving offshore oil and gas
industry, which for more than 30 years had
worked under exactly such conditions, on
The POWER Project
The North Sea Competence Network for Offshore Wind Energy – POWER – is a
transnational project aiming to harmonize planning and information strategies
for offshore wind farms in compliance with government legislation and to
increase the supply chain knowledgement for the offshore wind industry in the
North Sea Region.
The POWER Project regions, who have commissioned this project in Denmark,
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, are at the centre of the
world’s offshore wind industry. It was here that the fi rst offshore wind farms
were built, and it is here the industry is forecasting the strongest growth in
the near future.
The transnational POWER partnership has more than 30 national partners
from the fi ve countries, amongst which key partners are:
• Offshore Center Danmark, DK
• BIS Bremerhaven, DE
• Wind Energy Agency Bremerhaven/Bremen (WAB), DE
• Suffolk County Council, UK
• East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), UK
• The South Denmark European Offi ce, DK
• Delft University of Technology, NL
• University of Groningen, NL
• Autonomous Port of Oostende, BE
Please read more about the POWER project on the website
www.offshore-power.net and also on Offshore Center Danmarks website
www.offshorecenter.dk.
Total global expenditure in offshore wind is forecast to exceed €13 billion for
the 2006-2010 period. Annual expenditure will quickly grow until the end of
the period to a level in excess of €5 billion/year. The POWER Project countries
are forecast a total expenditure of over €7.6 billion over the next fi ve
years which is 59% of all global offshore wind expenditure.
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Others
POWER Total
Annual Capacity MW
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Offshore Center Danmark
Yearbook 2008
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