It was the day after that for MEP Niels Fuglsang (S), who had to withdraw a well-intentioned green proposal for energy renovation of Danish homes from 2035, after the party leadership announced that it was not the Social Democrats' policy.
The message of the unstoppable green transition now followed Niels Fuglsang to Randers, where he visited Nordhavn Power Solutions in Randers today together with his party colleague, Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy Dan Jørgensen.
Yesterday is long forgotten, and the S duo Jørgensen and Fuglsang had a listening ear, because Nordhavn Power Solutions is the standard-bearer for a transition to methanol within the maritime industry. However, there are still certain obstacles to a transition to the green fuel, and the company owner would like to talk about them.
The company's owner is Kent Kirk, who has a lot in common with the two politicians, and there is immediately something to talk about. He has been both Minister of Fisheries, a politician in the Danish parliament and a member of the European Parliament, as today's two visitors. Today, Kent Kirk is still an active businessman at the age of 75.
Dan Jørgensen remembers one episode in particular from 1983, when the minister was eight years old. Then, the then European Parliamentarian and fishing skipper Kent Kirk sailed to Britain in a fishing war that made him very well-known in Denmark. Kirk was arrested for fishing in British waters by the British authorities. While Dan Jørgensen remembers this, it is not the case with Fuglsang, who, as a 1985 year old, was born two years later.
The green solutions
But today's message is not about political anecdotes, because Kent Kirk has a message that he wants to get across. The company sells methanol engines and methanol container generators, which can replace diesel engines on ships and generators in construction, road works and at festivals.
- If you send the diesel cars out of town, then you also have to get the diesel generators out of town, says one of Kent Kirk's points, which is supported with facts by Nordhavn's CEO Søren Rasmussen:
- In 2020, 57,000 diesel generators were sold in the EU, which can be replaced by methanol container generators.
The director also has a clear answer when Dan Jørgensen wants to know whether there is enough methanol for a conversion.
- There is actually more methanol in the world than diesel, and there are far fewer particle emissions than with diesel, explains Søren Rasmussen.
But even though the solutions are ready at Nordhavn, something is missing to get demand going.
- We need legislation that says: Go, now, says Kent Kirk and makes a concrete proposal:
- If you in the government set up a working group to look at the Danish rules. We have a problem with the regulatory framework. That is my message to you now.
Dan Jørgensen hears what is being said, and he immediately asks his special advisor to write "half a page for Aagaard" (Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard, ed.)
- It is fantastic that we can be part of the green transition and even export the solutions. Niels (Fuglsang, ed.) and I would like to help remove some of the stones in the way, Dan Jørgensen tells DOI.dk.
A European hydrogen backbone
Niels Fuglsang has particularly noticed that hydrogen will be required when methanol is to be produced from renewable energy in the future.
- I think we need to promote green hydrogen, and we need to have a European hydrogen backbone. It is crucial for us to be able to get it up and running on a larger scale. It is something that the EU must support, says Niels Fuglsang.
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