13 Projects in Danish Open-Door Scheme Moving Forward, All Demo Projects Cleared to Resume

July 4, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has resumed case processing of three offshore wind farms laid out in the Marine Plan, issued last month, and all pending applications for test projects under the open-door scheme as it has been concluded that they are not in violation of EU regulations, which last month led to Denmark terminating 24 out of 33 offshore wind applications.

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The DEA put the case processing of the 33 open-door projects on hold on 1 February 2023, until further clarification of EU legal issues.

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities has, in consultation with the State Support Secretariat, assessed that any preliminary investigation permits for pending applications for small test projects, which are not connected to the electricity grid, are not in violation of EU regulations and that their potential future establishment and electricity production permits will not be in violation of EU law either.

Following this assessment, the Danish Energy Agency has now resumed processing all pending applications for test projects under the open-door scheme.

There are 13 projects whose applications the DEA is continuing to process, nine of which are offshore wind farms, including the three that were agreed to be moved forward within the Marine Plan that was issued on 7 June.

The image below shows the project names and the dates the DEA resumed processing them.

The first two on the list, European Energy’s Frederikshavn and HOFOR’s Aflandshage offshore wind farms, have already obtained establishment permits.

The following four, three led by European Energy and one by HOFOR, have received preliminary investigation permits and resumed the processing at the DEA shortly after the first two.

The rest of the projects are in the application processing stage for preliminary investigation permits.

The three listed last, Vikinge Banke, Kadet Banke and Paludan Flak are the offshore wind farms that were laid out in the Marine Plan in June and decided to be processed further at the same time as the Danish government terminated the majority of the projects in the open-door scheme.

The DEA resumed work on the applications for the three offshore wind farms on 23 June.

Among the demonstration projects cleared to resume at the DEA is a proposal to test a vertical-axis floating wind turbine that has its own energy storage, as well as floating solar and wave energy projects.

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For the Vikinge Banke (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), Kadet Banke and Paludan Flak (Wind Estate) offshore wind farms, the Danish Energy Agency is trying to find a way to adjust the open-door scheme so that these projects could proceed within the framework of EU regulations.

The DEA said on 29 June that it was in the process of legally and technically working out a possible transitional arrangement and invited the market players to an industry dialogue on 10 August to gather their input and views on the arrangement before moving forward.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ proposed Vikinge Banke, located west of Ringkøbing Fjord, is planned to have an installed capacity of up to 1.1 GW.

Wind Estate’s Kadet Banke offshore wind power project, planned to be built in Kattegat, is proposed to have a total capacity of 504 MW, while the Paludan Flak, located in the same area, would have a capacity of 154 MW.