European Energy Plans to Build Offshore Wind Farm on Site Previously Eyed by Ørsted

The Danish Energy Agency has approved the feasibility study report and an environmental impact report for Frederikshavn Offshore Wind Farm, proposed to be built by European Energy.

European Energy’s project includes installing up to five offshore wind turbines some 4 kilometres off the Danish coast, east of the Port of Frederikshavn, with a total installed capacity of between 21.6 MW and 72 MW.

The Danish Energy Agency pointed out that the approval issued on 26 April does not give the developer the right to construct the offshore wind farm, but it does give the company the opportunity to proceed to the next steps in the application process, including applying for the development permit.

The Danish Energy Agency expects the development consent application to be submitted for consultation at the end of May.

If the company applies for the development permit, the environmental impact report for the project must be put through an eight-week public consultation, before the Danish Energy Agency takes a final position on whether the development permit can be granted.

Holding a public meeting on the project is also required, and this is expected to be organised on 2 June, should the developer apply for a permit.

At the meeting, European Energy will present the environmental impact report and it will be possible to ask questions. The Danish Energy Agency also participates in the public meeting, as the agency has authority over the offshore part of the project, while Frederikshavn Municipality has authority over the onshore part of the project.

According to the Danish Energy Agency, in July 2017, European Energy applied for permission to install offshore wind turbines east of Frederikshavn, in roughly the same area for which a development permit had been granted for a “largely identical project”.

The permit was not used by the previous project developer and the Danish Minister of Energy, Utilities and Climate granted a preliminary study permit to European Energy in December 2018, giving the company the right to carry out specific studies at the site.

European Energy submitted a first draft of the environmental impact report for Frederikshavn Offshore Wind Farm in June 2021, which then went to public consultation in the fourth quarter of last year.

The developer behind the project previously planned to be built offshore Frederikshavn was Ørsted, which had plans to establish a six-turbine demonstration project at the site.

Namely, according to the documents available on the initial project, Ørsted (then known as DONG Energy) was granted permission to perform a feasibility study and environmental investigations back in 2007.

The company submitted its environmental impact report to the Danish Energy Agency in 2008 and later applied for the development permit, which was valid until 31 December 2016.

Copenhagen-based European Energy entered offshore wind in 2018 after acquiring the 21 MW Sprogø offshore wind farm in its home country.

In October 2020, the company filed for permission to build the 320 MW Omø South and the 240 MW Jammerland Bay wind farms offshore Denmark and, a little less than a year later, joined Danish utility company Sønderborg Forsyning on the 160 MW the Lillebælt Syd nearshore wind farm project.

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