UPDATEDThe green asset manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has ambitions to build a number of energy islands. This is reported by Berlingske on Friday morning.
This will be done through a new company called Copenhagen Energy Islands (CEI), in which the Danish pension funds PensionDanmark and PFA and the Danish energy giant Andel are co-owners.
Initially, there are plans to build ten energy islands, which will be located in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and in Southeast Asia. On paper, they will be able to produce 12 times Denmark's annual electricity consumption, writes Berlingske. An energy island is intended to collect and distribute electricity from surrounding offshore wind farms.
- Our vision is to deliver concrete solutions to the global challenge of scaling up renewable energy. If we want to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we will have to increase the deployment of offshore wind and other renewable energy sources to an unprecedented level. Today, the challenge for offshore wind is less about building individual offshore wind farms, but more about how to integrate large-scale offshore wind energy into global energy systems. We see energy islands as a key tool to solve this challenge and realize the ambitious goals for offshore wind worldwide, says Jakob Baruël Poulsen, Managing Partner at CIP, in a statement.
Long prospects
According to the newspaper, the overall project can potentially attract more than 2200 billion DKK in investments. But the future prospects are long.
In the first instance, the necessary permits for the islands must be obtained, and then studies must be carried out. This can take several years. After that, a final decision must be made to start construction. It takes about three years from the first sod to the energy island being ready. Nevertheless, CIP believes the initiative is necessary.
- If we are to achieve our ambitions for offshore wind (offshore wind turbines, ed.) of 300 GW in the North Sea, we simply cannot continue to do as we have always done, says Thomas Dalsgaard, partner in CIP responsible for energy islands.
- This is because today we connect each wind farm to land with its own cable. Over the past 30 years, we have succeeded in setting up 20 gigawatts in the North Sea. Now we will set up an additional 280 over the next 30 years. It goes without saying that the scaling that needs to happen simply requires a different approach.
Still no clarification on energy island in the North Sea
This is not the first time that ambitions to build energy islands have been on the agenda in Denmark. In 2020, energy islands in the North Sea were worth 210 billion. DKK on the drawing board, after a broad majority in the Danish Parliament reached an agreement.
Several years of studies and political negotiations have not yet led to the launch of the project. Last year, the tender for the energy island was postponed indefinitely because the economy was not consistent.
The energy island in the North Sea is planned to be located 80-100 kilometers from the west coast of Jutland. In mid-2023, the Danish Energy Agency estimated that the total state costs for the current project were over DKK 50 billion.
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