Denmark Exploring Multiple Platforms as Alternative to Building Artificial Island

July 5, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

After concluding that the current concept of its North Sea Energy Island would be too expensive for the State, the Danish government, the transmission system operator (TSO) Energinet, and other relevant agencies are now looking into the concept for the island to be established on several large platforms.

As reported last week, the government has decided to postpone its decision to invite tenders for the North Sea Energy Island in its current form of an artificial island after the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) estimated that the State may have to spend around DKK 50 billion (approximately EUR 6.7 billion) for the entire artificial island project.

However, the work on developing and planning the North Sea Energy Island is not being paused, Energinet emphasised in a press release on 4 July and said it would now help investigate whether the energy island should be established on a foundation made up of several large platforms.

Commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, Energinet will be performing analyses over the coming months to investigate whether or not platforms are an economically and technically more sustainable alternative to building an artificial island.

Hanne Storm Edlefsen, Vice President, Energy Islands, Energinet, said: “We are far from starting the analyses from scratch. Much of the work we have done so far can be used directly as we are now zooming in on the technical and economic feasibility of the platform solution”.

Energinet also noted that, in addition to their expected economic benefits, platforms with converter substations and other high-voltage technology equipment are likely to become the future standard for energy islands.

“The functionality of the electricity transmission part, which is the core of the North Sea Energy Island, remains unchanged whether you choose an island or platform structure”, Hanne Storm Edlefsen said.

“Moreover, another great benefit of the platform structure is that several of our European TSO colleagues have chosen this path and have already placed orders in the market. This applies, for example, to the German TSO TenneT which has signed contracts for converter substations to handle a total of 22 GW of offshore wind power. A large part of this order involves newly developed converter substations on offshore platforms, each of which is able to handle 2 GW”.

The decision on whether or not to proceed with the North Sea Energy Island will be based on the platform alternative and made before the end of the year.