Denmark: Port of Roenne Hails Energy Island Plan

Port of Roenne has welcomed Danish government’s plan to make the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea an energy island, facilitating the connection of 2 GW of offshore wind capacity.

“We are pleased that Bornholm has been appointed by the Government to become an energy island, that a 2 GW offshore wind farm is proposed to be located next to Bornholm and the Baltic Sea-region is given political priority, so the climate- and energy ambitions now also apply to the eastern part of Denmark and the regions in the Baltic Sea. This means, that all of Denmark will enjoy the effects of employment and local growth, which comes as a result of the construction of offshore wind farms in Denmark”, said Thomas Bendtsen, CEO of Port of Roenne.

The port has been selected as the pre-assembly port for Siemens Gamesa’s wind turbines for the 600 MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm, as well as for MHI Vestas wind turbines for the 257 MW Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm.

In 2018, the Port of Roenne started making upgrades to accommodate the offshore wind industry. The first phase of the port upgrades, completed in 2019, includes a 150,000-square-meter expansion, increase of the water depth to 11 meters, new external wave breaker, 300-meter-long multi-purpose terminal, and a heavy duty Ro-Ro rental.

The Port of Roenne also welcomed Danish government’s proposal to promote the new Power-to-X technologies, which transform renewable energy into hydrogen, that can be further refined to fossil-free fuels.

“This proposal can have a great impact on the transport sector and the maritime industry at a whole. For example the Government could choose to integrate the green PtX-solutions as part of the community-based ferry services on Bornholm. It will undoubtedly have a great and beneficial effect on the environment. If this could be connected to research and testing facilities for further development and qualification of the PtX-technologies, then Denmark could seriously become the first mover [in] this area”, Bendtsen said.