They couldn't have chosen a worse location. That's the message from the utility company Hofors to Energinet, which plans to build a transformer station in Solhøj, located in Vestegnen in Ishøj Municipality.
The transformer station will be the hub for the green wind energy that will be transported from the future energy island on Bornholm and distributed to homes in Zealand.
The station is expected to be 25 meters high and is controversial because it has previously been criticized by mayors in the capital area. This is where the electricity will be converted and connected to the eastern Danish high-voltage grid.
Solhøj was chosen as the location because the area is well located in relation to the cables that will transport the electricity from Bornholm to Zealand. This will not require an expansion of the electricity grid.
And the location will not have consequences for the area, emphasized Hanne Storm Edlefsen, deputy director of Energinet, to TV 2 Lorry in January. Not even for drinking water, she added.
Large groundwater interests
But it is precisely the drinking water that Hofor is now criticizing Energinet for undermining.
- You can hardly find any area in Denmark that has greater groundwater interests, says Lone Tolstrup Karlby, team leader for Groundwater and Pollution Sources in Hofor, to TV 2 Lorry.
The transformer station is planned to be located right next to Denmark's second largest spring site, where more than seven million cubic meters of water are extracted. This corresponds to more than ten percent of the Danes' drinking water. Hofor has prepared a memorandum on the matter, which TV 2 Lorry is in possession of.
According to Hofor, similar stations have historically been a source of groundwater pollution, and this is also a potential danger in this case.
- We do not know for sure, but experience shows that there is a great risk, says Lone Tolstrup Karlby.
If the groundwater becomes contaminated, it will require Hofor to start purifying the drinking water, and this will mean that the price of the water will increase.
- We therefore ask Energinet to resume the investigations of alternative and less problematic locations, says Lone Tolstrup Karlby.
She is surprised that Energinet has not contacted Hofor in connection with the location of the transformer station. Hofor first heard about the matter in October, when a resident in the area made them aware of it.
- We would very much like to have a dialogue with Energinet, says Lone Tolstrup Karlby and says that Hofor has just sent them a letter.
Location is fixed
However, Energinet has not yet received any letter from Hofor, and it is also emphasized that it is still so early in the process of building the high-voltage substation that the lack of contact is completely natural. Energinet's deputy director, Marian Kaagh, tells TV 2 Lorry.
- I am aware that a number of people are referring to a letter from Hofor, but we have not received anything. And at the same time, we are at a very early stage in the project, so we will first have to dialogue with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency and citizens and other stakeholders in the coming time, she says, referring to the fact that, for example, a so-called environmental impact assessment has not yet been carried out.
But even though the details and plans for the construction have still not been determined, the location in the area near Solhøj is fixed.
This is due, among other things, to the lack of physical space at the two other areas that have been investigated, which are in Avedøre and in Hove, which is north of Solhøj.
- It is fixed that it will be located in the area near Solhøj, but the exact location has not yet been determined. But that does not mean that there cannot be challenges with the location, but we will only learn more about that later in the process, when we have had all relevant citizens and stakeholders involved in the project, says Marian Kaagh.
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