Danish state to own 20% of planned offshore wind farms

The Danish state will take a 20% stake in planned wind farms that could supply a total of 14 million households, according to a new tender agreement that has left some sceptical.

The tender framework, which was agreed upon by the Danish government and a large majority of other parties on Wednesday, is for the large-scale expansion of offshore wind turbines in Danish waters and, as the agreement suggests, aims to ensure the state has some influence when large-scale projects are built at sea.

“If it turns out that these parks are worth much more than you think when the bids are decided, the Danish state will get the profit,” said Denmark’s Climate, Energy and Utilities Minister Lars Aagaard.

However, the idea of state co-ownership did not please the Conservative Party, currently in opposition.

“We don’t see the point of state co-ownership, because it could mean, among other things, that we will be delayed. And then we actually think that it is the companies that should drive the green transition and not the state and the citizens’ tax money, which carries a certain risk”, the party’s climate spokesperson Mona Juul said.

The Conservatives’ concerns were also shared by the industry.

“From Green Power Denmark’s side, we would have preferred that there had not been a requirement for state co-ownership. It makes the rules more complicated and the tendering process longer than necessary”, said Green Power Denmark and CEO Kristian Jensen on behalf of the Danish energy sector.

“And we need to speed things up now because we are in a hurry to get the offshore wind farms up and running before 2030,” he added.

The business organisation has previously expressed concern that state interference scares investors away.

However, while Jensen pointed to the many other ways in which the state could have secured a share of the profits, he stressed that having a tender agreement on the topic was favourable, as it the tender positive as it gives the industry “something concrete to relate to.”

(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)