On Marienborg, a new energy alliance emerged today.
Denmark and its neighbors around the Baltic Sea, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, signed a declaration that aims to rapidly expand their offshore wind power capacity. The ambition is to have 19.6 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 – a sevenfold increase compared to the current 2.8 GW.
The expansion of renewable energy will bolster energy security in the region and is an important step to become independent from Russian energy imports.
”The Russian invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s use of energy as a weapon has brought Europe to the brink of an energy crisis. But the Summit shows that we can disarm this weapon and show the world that energy should not be used as a tool of oppression, but as a source of peace, cooperation and prosperity,” says Dan Jørgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities.
In addition to the potential for offshore wind, the Baltic Sea also boasts a potential for adding more grid connections between the countries electricity systems.
Denmark and Germany have recently agreed to expand the Energy Island of Bornholm and connect a cable from Germany to it. This means that the energy island will be able to supply millions of German and Danish households with green electricity in 2030.
In the long run, renewable energy is the answer. But in order to gain independence from Russian fossil fuels as quickly as possible, the eight countries have agreed to look into alternatives such as liquid gas – also known as LNG.
Read more about the summit here.
Read Letter of Intent here.
Read The Declaration of Energy Ministers here.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities’ press office: + 45 41 72 38 05
Key facts
- With the Marienborg-declaration, the countries will strengthen their national as well as EU’s independence from Russian fossil fuels through a closer cooperation on energy and expansion of renewable energy.
- There’s only 2.8 GW in the Baltic Sea today.
- Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has a agreed to set the ambition of establishing 19.6 GW of offshore wind before 2030.
- With 6.3 GW, Denmark is expected to have the biggest offshore wind by 2030. Poland is second with 5.9 GW, Germany with 3.8 GW, Lithuania with 1.4 GW, Estonia with 1 GW, Sweden with 0.7 GW, Latvia with 0.4 GW and Finland with 0.1 GW.
- Denmark and the Baltic countries have agreed to establish a global cooperation that will upscale their existing cooperation on the framework conditions for offshore wind tender.
- Based on numbers from a Danish study ordered by the industry, the sevenfold increase of offshore wind by 2030 is expected to create between 167.450 annual work units in the construction phase as well as 188.554 annual work units throughout the lifecycle.