The Danish National Audit Office has criticized Energinet's management of the expansion of the Danish transmission grid on Thursday. Overall, the Danish National Audit Office assesses that Energinet's management of the expansion is "very unsatisfactory".
The Danish National Audit Office has criticized Energinet for having worked with overly optimistic timetables in the period from January 2023 to June 2025. Energinet takes note of this criticism, and the state-owned company acknowledges that the expansion of the transmission grid has been delayed. Energinet states this in a press release.
The Danish National Audit Office concludes that the timetables for a number of projects have slipped and that the reasons for the delays have not been sufficiently clarified. Energinet emphasizes that both the scope of the task and the framework conditions have changed significantly in recent years.
- We acknowledge that the expansion of the transmission grid has been delayed, and that the task of building a new transmission grid is generally challenging. We take note of the report by the Danish National Audit Office and note that during 2025 we have implemented measures that address a number of the criticisms, says Søren Dupont Kristensen, Chief Operating Officer of Energinet.
Energinet states that the company has already implemented a number of measures to increase the progress of the expansion. This includes increased outsourcing, new purchasing strategies, greater stockpiling and options for temporary connection and limited network access. According to Energinet, however, the measures have only had a limited effect during the period covered by the Danish National Audit Office's investigation.
Points to three main reasons for delays
Energinet points to three main reasons for the changed schedules: the global supply crisis after corona, Russia's war in Ukraine and an accelerated green transition, which has increased demand for components and extended delivery times. At the same time, the processing time for environmental authorities has increased from just over 100 days to around 800 days on average per project.
- The timetables that were originally set, and which in many cases were made several years in advance, have proven to be no longer accurate, says Søren Dupont Kristensen.
Energinet also points out that the task has grown significantly. The number of network customer projects has almost eightfold in six years, while the company's own construction projects have tripled. The value of the construction portfolio has also increased from approximately DKK 13 billion to just under DKK 100 billion.
A statement from 2025 shows that 83 projects were postponed. Of these, 30 percent are due to network customer issues, 30 percent to environmental case processing, 15 percent to other external issues and 25 percent to the government. internal factors such as resource shortages and prioritization.
At the same time, Energinet is experiencing a significant increase in applications for connection from, among other things, data centers and battery parks. At the turn of the year, applications were equivalent to 33.5 GW of new electricity consumption, which overall points to a possible eightfold increase in electricity consumption in Denmark.
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