Wind Power in Denmark - Wind Power: Politics and Policy - page 84

In the early 1970s, oil accounted for as much as 90% of Denmark's primary
energy because it was also used for electricity generation. 6 he two oil
price shocks that occurred in the 1970s prompted the Danish government
to initiate policies to wean the nation from heavy dependence on foreign
oil. One strategy was to escalate domestic fossil fuel exploration eforts,
which resulted in the discovery of oil and natural gas ields in the North
Sea. Another strategy involved facilitating a technological shift away from
oil as a primary source of electricity generation. Figure 4.2 demonstrates
that these initiatives were successful. Since 1980, Denmark has managed
to reduce the role of oil in its primary energy mix by nearly half (43%) by
substituting oil-ired power generation technology with renewable and
gas-ired power technologies. he vast majority of oil that is still consumed
in Denmark now comes from domestic supply sources.
Another contributing factor to Denmark's improving CO 2 proile is a reduced
portfolio in coal-ired electricity generation. As Figure 4.3 illustrates, the role
of coal has decreased in large part due to enhanced reliance on natural gas
(thanks to domestic natural gas discoveries in the North Sea) and wind power
for electricity generation, as well as expanded capacity in combined heat and
power technology. Nevertheless, coal-ired power still contributed 43.8% to
Denmark's electricity generation in 2010, which suggests that Denmark still
has a lot of room for improvement in terms of reducing energy-related GHG
emissions; as the next section will detail, wind power stands to play a key role
in further eforts to decarbonize the energy mix.
4.3 HISTORY OF WIND POWER DEVELOPMENT IN DENMARK
Wind power has a comparatively long history in Denmark. As early as the
1900s, purportedly over 30,000 wind turbines provided power for Danish
farms and homes. During World War 1, Denmark continued to encourage
expansion of wind power in order to circumvent wartime fossil fuel sup-
ply disruptions. It has been estimated that by 1918, approximately 120
local utilities in Denmark integrated wind power into the electricity grid,
totaling approximately 3 MW or about 3% of the Danish electricity supply. 7
Between world wars the security impetus for further wind power develop-
ment diminished; however, the outbreak of World War II and the reemer-
gence of fossil fuel supply disruptions prompted the Danes to once again
revisit wind power development. During this period wind power turbines
with rated capacities of 45 kW were developed.
here is clear logic behind the allure of wind power in Denmark—the
nation is ideally positioned to exploit the power of wind. Its 5,000 miles of