Energy Intelligence has announced that Danish company Dong Energy is the winner of its 2014 Award for Leadership in New Energy. The award recognizes a company that is at the forefront of the energy transition from traditional fossil fuels to alternative energy forms. Dong Energy has been a pioneer in developing offshore wind technology, building off its expertise in both offshore oil and gas development and onshore wind.
The award will be presented to Dong Energy on October 29, 2014, during the first full day of the 35th Annual Oil & Money Conference in London, organized by Energy Intelligence and the International New York Times.
The award’s selection process began with the Energy Intelligence editorial team compiling a list of nominees. The winner was then chosen by a selection committee comprised of independent experts in new energy from the business world complemented by senior energy executives and government officials that act as advisers to Energy Intelligence.
“Dong is a perfect example of a company leveraging its offshore oil and gas experience to develop a new sector, offshore wind power. It’s a leader in that area and will play a central role in driving down costs,” said David Pike, Editor of EI New Energy, Energy Intelligence’s carbon and renewables information service . “On behalf of the selection committee and Energy Intelligence, I would like to offer our congratulations to Dong on this achievement.”
Dong Energy, headed by Chief Executive Henrik Poulsen, has become the world’s biggest player in the offshore wind energy sector, after building the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991 and the first large-scale offshore project in 2002. The partially state-owned company now makes as much money from wind power as it does from oil and gas exploration and production. Mr. Poulsen is implementing a new business plan that targets offshore wind as a core growth area. Dong’s activities come alongside an ambitious clean energy program in Denmark, backed by some of the toughest renewable energy targets in the world that are designed to wean the country off oil, gas and coal. The state’s long-term target is to reach 100% renewable energy in the energy and transport sectors by 2050.
Dong has set a target of some 6.5 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2020 – three times its current capacity – focusing on Europe’s main markets of the UK, Germany and Denmark. The company also aims to reduce the cost of electricity from offshore wind projects to less than €100 ($130) per megawatt hour after 2020, with an ambitious roadmap covering turbines, foundations, offshore transmission, logistics and maintenance. This gives it a key role in bringing down the costs of this developing technology in order to make it a commercially viable form of renewable power.
Dong Energy placed sixth worldwide in the 2013 “Top 100 Green Utilities” ranking in EI New Energy. This assessed and ranked 100 leading utilities, accounting for half of global power generating capacity, according to their carbon emissions and renewable energy capacity. It was the third-highest European company in this ranking, behind Spain’s Iberdrola (the 2013 award recipient) and Portugal’s EDP.
The inaugural Award for Leadership in New Energy was presented to the UAE’s Masdar, represented by Chief Executive H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, at Oil & Money 2012. Last year, the award was presented to Spain’s Iberdrola, represented by renewables chief Xabier Viteri Solaun, at Oil & Money 2013.
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