Danes Brainstorming on Environmental Assessments for New Offshore Wind Farms

March 6, 2023, by Adrijana Buljan

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has opened a public consultation period to gather ideas for the environmental assessments of the plans for the country’s new offshore wind farms in the North and Baltic Seas.

DEA is working on planning for the areas that were last year identified as suitable for the establishment of offshore wind farms, and this includes environmental assessments of the plans for the new areas: Nordsø I (North Sea I), Kattegat II and Kriegers Flak II.

Besides these three, Denmark is also preparing for the development of the Hesselø area, for which a new offshore EIA is now being prepared since the project’s offshore site was moved south of the initially chosen location which was found to be unsuitable for installing offshore wind structures.

For the consultation on the three areas, which runs from 6 to 31 March, DEA is inviting citizens, companies, authorities and other stakeholders to submit their ideas and proposals on what should be included in the environmental assessments of the plans for the respective areas.

Based on the consultation responses, DEA will, among other things, decide which topics and environmental impacts must be highlighted in the environmental assessments.

The results of these assessments are expected to be presented in the second public hearing in the first half of 2024. However, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) will still have to be carried out for the specific projects.

In June 2022, the Danish government decided that offshore wind turbine areas that can accommodate at least 4 GW of capacity must be offered for establishment before the end of 2030.

The same year, through the Finance Act, it was decided that an additional 2 GW of offshore wind will be put up for auction before the end of 2030. After that, the government decided that 1 GW of these 2 GW should be placed in connection with the Bornholm Energy Island as it was decided to expand the capacity there from 2 GW to 3 GW.

While the final locations of the offshore wind farms which will support these plans await a final political decision, the Danish Energy Agency is preparing planning and studies of the areas that have been deemed suitable for offshore wind build-out so the wind farms could be established in a timely manner in relation to the political agreements, according to DEA.