Samsø Offshore Wind Farm can now continue to produce electricity for another ten years. This is the result of a new decision from the Danish Energy Agency, which has extended the electricity production permit for an older offshore wind farm in Denmark for the first time. The agency writes in a statement.
When the farm was established in 2002, the permit was limited to 25 years. It would therefore expire in 2027, unless the owner, Wind Estate A/S, applied for and received an extension. This has now happened, and the farm – which consists of ten turbines with a total capacity of 23 MW – can thus continue to supply electricity to the equivalent of 20-25,000 households until 2037.
- With this decision, Samsø Offshore Wind Farm can continue to produce green electricity rather than being dismantled and decommissioned. This is welcome for the green transition and sustainable from a resource perspective, as long as the plant can continue to operate in a responsible manner. This is the first time that the Danish Energy Agency has decided whether an existing offshore wind farm can have its electricity production permit extended, and it provides perspectives for similar offshore wind projects in Denmark. There are several older offshore wind farms around Denmark that are also approaching their final expiration date. In the coming time, the Danish Energy Agency will assess whether those wind farms can also continue to operate responsibly, says Stig Uffe Pedersen, Deputy Director General of the Danish Energy Agency.
To obtain the permit, Wind Estate A/S has submitted an impartial analysis that documents the remaining life of the turbines. At the same time, it is a requirement that the owner conducts annual, extended service inspections when the farm is over 20 years old.
As part of the decision, the Danish Energy Agency has also chosen to use the EU's emergency regulation, which makes it possible to accelerate the permit process. The regulation makes it possible, among other things, to exempt certain projects from detailed species protection assessments if mitigation measures are applied. In this case, this means, among other things, that the wind turbines must stop or run slowly after sunset in low winds, in order to protect bats during the period from April to October.
The Danish Energy Agency is currently processing similar applications from four other offshore wind farms: Middelgrunden, Rønland, Nysted and Horns Rev 1.
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