ENERGY ISLANDS
The Danes are continuing their march into the sea to build a 10GW wind island. Denmark is made up of a peninsula, the large ‘mainland’ area and 443 named islands, so the concept will not be an unusual idea for them. Their wind resource is good and the country were always front-runners in the North Sea wind turbine race. However if you look at the map, the exploitable coastline is quite small in comparison to their size and population. There will be two energy islands one, an existing island called Bornholm, located in the Baltic sea, the other an artificial island in the North Sea. The project will take 20 years and be commissioned in stages with the first raft of 4GW due to be completed by 2030, 2GW on each island. The new North Sea island named VindO is expected to generate up to 10GW when it is complete and located 100km from Denmark. It would comprise some 25 traditional offshore wind farms built on submersible concrete boxes.
The electricity generated will create both electrical power and hydrogen gas to power the country’s economy and get them beyond the energy transition and gain zero carbon status. They are not the only ones doing this. Germany is also forging out to the North Sea and generating hydrogen. Also the UK is very active in this area, looking at repurposing North Sea oil infrastructure.
The investment in the Dane’s energy islands will be privately funded using no Danish public money, but the government will ensure public ownership of the transmission network.
https://renews.biz/60481/danish-consortium-eyes-10gw-energy-island/
https://www.popularmechanics.co.za/tech/denmark-to-build-two-giant-energy-islands/