Danish and German transmission system operators (TSOs) Energienet and 50Hertz this year will carry out studies for the construction of an energy hub on the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm to be linked to 2GW of Baltic Sea offshore wind capacity.

Energinet said the letter of intent with 50Hertz on the ‘Bornholm Energy Island’ to be established by 2030 is a first breakthrough to connect planned Danish energy islands to other countries.

Bornholm is located closer to the Swedish and German coasts than to Denmark. It already has a grid link to Sweden, which in the future could be expanded, while a connection to Poland is also contemplated.

Electricity from offshore wind farms surrounding Bornholm under the project are slated to be fed into an interconnector on the island and in following phases connections to other littoral states and offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea will be developed gradually, 50Herzt said.

"If we are to succeed in the massive expansion of offshore wind, which is necessary in the coming years to fulfil the Paris climate agreement, it is absolutely vital that a significant change of gear is now taking place,” Energienet chief executive Thomas Egebo said.

“A change of gears from national expansion with individual wind farms to energy islands, which in essence are and only can be transnational projects."

5GW energy islands

Current Danish planning foresees wind farms to be built at some 20 kilometres south and south-west of Bornholm, and connected to the offshore wind hub on the island via submarine cables by 2030.

Denmark’s parliament last year had approved linking 5GW of offshore wind capacity to energy islands – 2GW connected to Bornholm, and an initial 3GW linked to an artificial energy island to be built in the North Sea (which later is slated to be boosted to 10GW).

"Together with our reliable partner Energinet, we want to launch a new innovative project for the energy transition and climate protection,” 50Hertz chief executive Stefan Kapferer said.

“With this project, we are not only making technological progress, but must also break new regulatory ground for the transnational use and remuneration of the generated power together with policy-makers and the offshore wind industry."

Energinet and 50Hertz last year already established a first joint offshore wind interconnector at Vattenfall’s under construction 605MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea. The grid link is also connected to the EnBW’s adjacent 288MW offshore wind array Baltic 2 that is already operating in German waters, and in the future may be linked to Sweden as well.

Both Denmark and Germany want to speed up their offshore wind build-out, and in December last year have also won the Netherlands to join their political declarations regarding the need for energy islands.

“It is also necessary that the speed and pace of expansion is significantly increased if we in Europe are to reach our goal of 6 GW offshore wind in 2030 and as much as 300 GW in 2050,” Egebo said.

“Therefore, it is also both gratifying and necessary that we are already now on target with the first very concrete cooperation agreement on preparations to connect the energy island of Bornholm to several countries.”

Wind

Danish and German TSOs kick off studies for 2GW Baltic Sea offshore wind energy island