Wind Power in Denmark - Wind Power: Politics and Policy - page 107

by two proactive trade organizations—the Danish Wind Turbine Owners
Association and the Danish Wind Turbine Manufacturers Association. 112
Denmark is also characterized by a unique pattern of utility ownership
that the government exploited in its wind power development policy. From
the 1970s through to the turn of the century, Denmark's electricity system
was predominantly consumer-owned and operated through either coopera-
tives or municipal ownership. he utilities were nonproit organizations,
with operational surpluses channeled back to the consumers in the form of
lower electricity prices. 113 Consequently, when the government sought to
enhance wind power difusion, it adopted policies that supported coopera-
tive ownership. At the same time, it attempted to coerce utilities into volun-
tarily investing in wind power by appealing to the iduciary duty that such
organizations have to the communities in which they operate. Intriguingly,
this strategy produced a pool of wind power investors that was estimated
in 2000 to range between 120,000 and 150,000 individuals. 114 In short,
Denmark's wind turbine investment policies attracted a base of entrenched
supporters that served to attenuate any consumer dissonance associated
with higher than average electricity prices.
4.5.2 Economic → Political
As will be demonstrated in all the case studies included in this topic, energy
economics exerts perhaps the greatest inluence over a given nation's pro-
pensity to support wind power. In almost every nation, the decision to
support wind power is predicated upon assessments of the impact that com-
paratively high wind power costs will have on industrial competitiveness
and consumer willingness to pay higher energy prices to support greater
contributions from wind power.
In Denmark, industrial concerns typically opposed wind power, argu-
ing that it would inlate the cost of energy and undermine industrial com-
petitiveness. However, the lobbying eforts of industry associations were
eclipsed by the lobbying eforts of Denmark's wind power associations and
the government's desire to wean the nation from an overdependence on
imported fossil fuels. One of the main reasons the lobbying eforts of indus-
trial associations were inefectual stems from the observation that pre-
serving the status quo did not necessarily represent a preferred economic
alternative. In the 1970s, the capricious nature of fossil fuel prices proved
to be damaging to Danish industry; consequently, arguments in favor of
preserving the status quo for economic reasons were weakened. As an illus-
tration of this, electricity costs in Denmark in the early 1980s were about