Denmark: greenest year ever

From State of Green:

2019 was a year where green ambitions were realised in the form of the Danish Climate Act. To top this off, power generated from wind turbines and solar power covered 49 per cent of the Danish electricity consumption in 2019, which is a new record.

In 2019, Denmark introduced the world’s most stringent climate act. New calculations from Danish Energy show that Denmark is already well on the way to delivering on the law that commits the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent by 2030. Even though 2019 is not yet over, the calculations, which are based on the Danish Energy Agency’s statistics and ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, show that the share of the wind and solar power in the country’s electricity consumption reached previously unmet heights.

Wind turbines produced enough power to cover 46 per cent of Denmark’s electricity consumption, which is a new record. Solar cells amounted for three per cent – a share which is expected to increase substantially in the coming years, given that certain types of large solar parks can be erected without subsidies. The previous record of 45 per cent was set in 2017.

The Danish Energy Agency estimates that the production of green energy will already exceed Denmark’s gross electricity consumption by 2028.

Wind production has also set new records. Using a cutoff of 16 December, wind turbines produced 15 terawatt hours in 2019, which is an amount equivalent to the electricity consumption of 3.75 million households. This figure has been aided by the offshore wind farm, Horns Rev 3, which officially opened in summer this year. The offshore farm consists of 49 turbines.

The amount of coal in the Danish electricity mix has also fallen by one third over the past two years. It now amounts for 13.3 per cent of production. Furthermore, the share of biomass, and in particular the amount of imported wood pellets, is beginning to flat line.

Both the low amounts of coal and the increasing shares of renewable energy means CO2 emissions from electricity are also falling. The power found in the Danes’ electricity sockets emits 157 grams of CO2 per kWh. These are historically low levels and far less than half the levels seen in 2013.