Community and Small-Scale Grid Innovation - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 183

Bornholm. Bornholm, which hosts the EU's first full-scale deployment of EcoGrid EU, is
the site of a smart microgrid that has introduced “market-based mechanisms close to the
operation of the power system” (Lohse 2014 ). Locating Ecogrid on Bornholm has enabled
the EU to literalize the island metaphor and conduct realistic testing of a novel approach
to electricity that it hopes will provide a model for smart grid development throughout
the world. In the understated style of project coordinator Ove S. Grande explains, their
“hope is that the experiences from EcoGrid EU will contribute to … the development of
the European 20-20-20 energy and climate goals” (EcoGrid EU 2013a p. 3).
Bornholm lies in the Baltic Sea, 200 kilometers to the east of Copenhagen. When the
island comes up in conversation, Danes “tend to go misty eyed… This island, with its time
warp, red-roofed fishing villages and magical beech forests holds a special place in the
national collective memory. All will have made the pilgrimage there at least once, usually
first as part of a school trip, and then perhaps a second or third time with families” (Booth
2013 ) . According to legend, when the gods created the world, they saved all the best bits
for last, kneaded them together, and then tossed them into the Baltic to form Bornholm
(Kumagai 2013 ) .
Bornholm has capitalized on its thoroughly documented status as the sunniest spot in
Denmark and hosts about 600,000 tourists each year, many of them returning Danes. It is
famed for its dramatic rock formations in the north that slope down into lush forests and
its magnificent sandy beaches, primarily in the south. Its unique natural features, historical
ruins, locally produced food specialties, and ceramics and glassware artisans make it a
popular tourist destination, especially for Scandinavians, Germans, and in recent years
Poles (Miljøministeriet - Danish Forest and Nature Agency 2013 ; Velkomstcenter 2013 ) .
Of course, the island also has a permanent population. Ronne, the main town, has
a population of 13,000. Ronne, along with other villages ranging in size from 70 to
4000 persons, gives the island a population of approximately 45,000. This permanent
population works in a broad range of small enterprises, providing “a representative mixture
of commercial, industrial, and residential customers, as well as schools, a hospital, an
airport, and an international seaport” (Kumagai 2013 ) . The advantages Bornholm offers for
developing a smart microgrid are similar to those Xcel found in Boulder: the distribution
system can be isolated, the population is well-educated and environmentally conscious,
the size is large enough to pilot-test smart grid technologies at scale. But unlike Boulder,
Bornholm has its own municipal utility. Maja Bendtsen, an engineer with Østkraft, the
island's municipal utility, explained that because Bornholm is “a microcosm of Danish
society,” it facilitates realistic study of multiple ways to reach the EU's goals of cutting
greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by the year 2020. For Jacob Østergaard, a professor
at the Technical University of Denmark, the underground cable is what makes Bornholm