Space Photo of the Day: Middelgrunden Shields Copenhagen Harbour

Sentinel-2, an Earth observation mission developed by ESA as part of the Copernicus Programme, has shared a photo taken from space showing the 40MW Middelgrunden offshore wind farm forming  a ”protective shield” around Denmark’s capital of Copenhagen and its harbour.

The Middelgrunden offshore wind farm consists of 20 2MW fixed-speed turbines situated 3.5 km outside the Copenhagen harbour.

The wind farm entered construction phase in 2000, and at the time of commissioning in 2001 was the largest offshore wind farm in the world.

Middelgrunden currently generates enough electricity to cover around 4% of the city of Copenhagen’s needs.

The wind farm is 50% owned by the Middelgrunden Wind Turbine Cooperative, and 50% by DONG Energy.

Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European Programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation.