Vattenfall to proceed with Danish near shore wind farms

Danish Parliament (Folketing) has given approval to Vattenfall to proceed with its plans to develop the 350MW near shore wind project off Denmark’s west coast.

On September 12, the Danish authorities announced that Vattenfall had won the tender to develop and build wind farms on two sites off the west coast of Jutland. The winning bid was 0.05 EUR (0.475 SEK) per kWh.

“We are really pleased that the Government and a majority in the Folketing has now confirmed that we can start building these near shore wind farms.

“This means that Vattenfall will further strengthen its position as a leading wind power producer in Denmark. At the same time it means more affordable renewable electricity for the Danish population and a quicker route to making Denmark independent of fossil fuels,” says Magnus Hall, CEO and President of Vattenfall.

Since the result of the tender was made public in September, a political debate has been going on in Denmark as to whether these near-shore projects should be approved or not.

The argument that building wind farms so close to shore would disturb the view of the horizon too much had been a major reason to ban these projects. Today’s announcement by the Danish Folketing means that this type of wind farm is now approved.

The next step for Vattenfall will be to initiate the procurement of the main components and services (wind turbines, foundations and cables as well as agreements with installation ships) so that the construction phase can start as planned in 2019. The first power will be supplied in 2020.