In spite of being very low risk, wind energy was not really considered particularly important, for many years. There has been a comparatively sudden change in this attitude in the light of looming problems over climate change and energy supply. Electricity companies in France, England, Germany and Poland now want to invest quite heavily in wind farms.
Denmark has been promoting this approach for a long time. Currently, a quarter of the electricity used in Denmark is supplied by wind turbines. The Danish government has deliberately encouraged this development. For years electricity companies there have been obliged to source a percentage of their supply from wind energy.
Alexander Steinbach reports.
0’15”K
Danes have been exploring ways to utilise wind force for years.
0’23”K
Over centuries the wind has always been there, a somewhat unstable presence.
It is difficult to estimate its potential for energy supply. If the wind is blowing at a speed of under ten kilometres an hour, the rotor blades of a windmill lie motionless. In a storm they need to be disconnected and switched off for safety reasons.
Still, harnessing wind energy in Denmark is no longer a mere flight of fantasy.
Horns Reef in the North Sea is the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Together with similar installations, it already supplies electricity to 1.5 million households.
As these maps indicate, the countryside is strewn with windmills. Each additional expansion will henceforth be located in the sea.
1’09 OT Peter Hjuler Jensen, Head of the Department of Wind Energy, Riso Research Centre
“As researchers tell us, the boundaries and limits of possibilities are always being stretched. 25 years ago it was thought that the highest contribution wind power could make to Denmark’s energy supply would be in the region of 5% - 10%. Today we have arrived at twice that level. Researchers now consider it feasible to expect as much as 50% of our electricity supply to be derived from wind power.”
1’35K
Denmark has a 7000 km long coastline and is just made for offshore windmills. However building these installations demands a lengthy preparation process. It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the behaviour of waves and currents, and the highest wind speeds in the area.
It also demands large scale planning. Plus the actual construction of several installations is also a very expensive project. It is not a case of whether to lay a thick or thin cable. The actual work involved is the same.
2’12
Huge amounts of money are at play here. The construction of the larger wind farms cost around 250 million Euros. The work that is necessary to bring the electric current into the distribution grid, is estimated to cost a further 50 million. It is reckoned that it would take operators a good ten years to return a profit on these installations.
2’33 OT Per Holmgaard
Director for Renewable Energy, Dong Energy
“What with the burden over CO2, as well as the increase in structural charges, we can see that renewable energy is coming to occupy a natural niche in the entire energy sector. However we cannot derive 100% electricity from wind energy, unless we can also devise a way to store electricity.
Thermal power stations do provide fuel for a certain time. It begs the question, though. Do we really want to maintain two entire energy supply systems concurrently?”
3’05K
Indeed, wind energy was no case of love at first sight for the Danes.
After the oil shock of 1973, the need to promote an independent energy supply came into the limelight. Initially Denmark even speculated with the idea of nuclear energy. That option was quickly rejected once they could find no solution to the question of its final disposal. Eventually, 20 years ago, the Danes began to investigate local sources of energy. A small number of windmill producers supplied the domestic market.
For the first time, wind power could be turned into a business The flirtation with nuclear energy was forgotten.
3’38 Woman
“I find it good that we can exploit wind power even further. It is a good form of energy. But we should ask folk who live in the affected areas whether they are disturbed by the windmills, especially when they have one in the garden behind them. Their output should be taken into consideration.”
3’54 OT Man
It is always better than coal or petrol. Wind energy is environmentally friendly. And we are already far advanced in the technology. Personally I think it is surely right to use secondary sources of energy as well as wind power.”
4’10 Reporter – Question
“Was nuclear power not an alternative?”
4’14 OT Woman
“No, I am completely unimpressed by it. I think it is better to develop a source of energy whose waste material can be safely disposed of. I feel there are enough examples from history to indicate that things do not really work out well with nuclear power – we have nothing to fall back on if things go seriously wrong.”
4’30
Wind turbines can also be a risk. Birds, even some breeds threatened with extinction, can collide with the installations. The North Sea is part of the migratory flight route for over 100 million singing birds. Ornithologists warn that rotating blades can present a deadly danger for birds, as large wind farms are situated in some of the top bird protection zones.
4’50 Michael Grell, Ornithologist, Bird Life, Denmark
“The problem is this: some birds cannot use their home territory because of wind farms. Additionally wind farms drive birds away from their traditional feeding grounds. One particular species we have a problem with is the Melitta Nigra. Denmark bears a special responsibility here because no less than half the global number of these birds can be found in Danish waters in winter….”
5’20
World wide, the exploitation of wind energy is booming. An estimate suggests that all over the globe, newly built wind power installations have a capacity of 15000 Megawatts. That is equivalent of 15 huge coal or nuclear power stations.
Researchers have calculated that wind power could easily meet the entire energy needs of the planet.
Admittedly, for this hypothetical energy to be actually produced, millions of turbines will have to be erected.
After all, wind farms are a risky investment. A forty metre long cable is so expensive that wind farms would have to be hugely productive to make them financially viable.
6’05 OT Conny Hedegaard, Minister for the Environment, Conservative People’s party
“This is not all that much of a big deal, especially in the future, once the problem of storing wind energy has been solved.
Developments lead to ever larger wind stations with ever greater capacities. Moreover we have doubled the licences for research and development into wind power. Denmark leads the world market in this area and over the coming years we shall be focussing substantially on biomass energy and wind power.”
6’38 K
The underlying potential of wind force has by no means been fully exploited yet in Europe. One of the major challenges is to work out a way to make wind power and other renewable sources of energy cost effective, so that they can subsist without market subsidies. Climate change and a world wide greed for raw materials motivate scientific research into alternative sources of energy – at least here in Denmark.
Denmark has been promoting this approach for a long time. Currently, a quarter of the electricity used in Denmark is supplied by wind turbines. The Danish government has deliberately encouraged this development. For years electricity companies there have been obliged to source a percentage of their supply from wind energy.
Alexander Steinbach reports.
0’15”K
Danes have been exploring ways to utilise wind force for years.
0’23”K
Over centuries the wind has always been there, a somewhat unstable presence.
It is difficult to estimate its potential for energy supply. If the wind is blowing at a speed of under ten kilometres an hour, the rotor blades of a windmill lie motionless. In a storm they need to be disconnected and switched off for safety reasons.
Still, harnessing wind energy in Denmark is no longer a mere flight of fantasy.
Horns Reef in the North Sea is the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Together with similar installations, it already supplies electricity to 1.5 million households.
As these maps indicate, the countryside is strewn with windmills. Each additional expansion will henceforth be located in the sea.
1’09 OT Peter Hjuler Jensen, Head of the Department of Wind Energy, Riso Research Centre
“As researchers tell us, the boundaries and limits of possibilities are always being stretched. 25 years ago it was thought that the highest contribution wind power could make to Denmark’s energy supply would be in the region of 5% - 10%. Today we have arrived at twice that level. Researchers now consider it feasible to expect as much as 50% of our electricity supply to be derived from wind power.”
1’35K
Denmark has a 7000 km long coastline and is just made for offshore windmills. However building these installations demands a lengthy preparation process. It is necessary to be thoroughly familiar with the behaviour of waves and currents, and the highest wind speeds in the area.
It also demands large scale planning. Plus the actual construction of several installations is also a very expensive project. It is not a case of whether to lay a thick or thin cable. The actual work involved is the same.
2’12
Huge amounts of money are at play here. The construction of the larger wind farms cost around 250 million Euros. The work that is necessary to bring the electric current into the distribution grid, is estimated to cost a further 50 million. It is reckoned that it would take operators a good ten years to return a profit on these installations.
2’33 OT Per Holmgaard
Director for Renewable Energy, Dong Energy
“What with the burden over CO2, as well as the increase in structural charges, we can see that renewable energy is coming to occupy a natural niche in the entire energy sector. However we cannot derive 100% electricity from wind energy, unless we can also devise a way to store electricity.
Thermal power stations do provide fuel for a certain time. It begs the question, though. Do we really want to maintain two entire energy supply systems concurrently?”
3’05K
Indeed, wind energy was no case of love at first sight for the Danes.
After the oil shock of 1973, the need to promote an independent energy supply came into the limelight. Initially Denmark even speculated with the idea of nuclear energy. That option was quickly rejected once they could find no solution to the question of its final disposal. Eventually, 20 years ago, the Danes began to investigate local sources of energy. A small number of windmill producers supplied the domestic market.
For the first time, wind power could be turned into a business The flirtation with nuclear energy was forgotten.
3’38 Woman
“I find it good that we can exploit wind power even further. It is a good form of energy. But we should ask folk who live in the affected areas whether they are disturbed by the windmills, especially when they have one in the garden behind them. Their output should be taken into consideration.”
3’54 OT Man
It is always better than coal or petrol. Wind energy is environmentally friendly. And we are already far advanced in the technology. Personally I think it is surely right to use secondary sources of energy as well as wind power.”
4’10 Reporter – Question
“Was nuclear power not an alternative?”
4’14 OT Woman
“No, I am completely unimpressed by it. I think it is better to develop a source of energy whose waste material can be safely disposed of. I feel there are enough examples from history to indicate that things do not really work out well with nuclear power – we have nothing to fall back on if things go seriously wrong.”
4’30
Wind turbines can also be a risk. Birds, even some breeds threatened with extinction, can collide with the installations. The North Sea is part of the migratory flight route for over 100 million singing birds. Ornithologists warn that rotating blades can present a deadly danger for birds, as large wind farms are situated in some of the top bird protection zones.
4’50 Michael Grell, Ornithologist, Bird Life, Denmark
“The problem is this: some birds cannot use their home territory because of wind farms. Additionally wind farms drive birds away from their traditional feeding grounds. One particular species we have a problem with is the Melitta Nigra. Denmark bears a special responsibility here because no less than half the global number of these birds can be found in Danish waters in winter….”
5’20
World wide, the exploitation of wind energy is booming. An estimate suggests that all over the globe, newly built wind power installations have a capacity of 15000 Megawatts. That is equivalent of 15 huge coal or nuclear power stations.
Researchers have calculated that wind power could easily meet the entire energy needs of the planet.
Admittedly, for this hypothetical energy to be actually produced, millions of turbines will have to be erected.
After all, wind farms are a risky investment. A forty metre long cable is so expensive that wind farms would have to be hugely productive to make them financially viable.
6’05 OT Conny Hedegaard, Minister for the Environment, Conservative People’s party
“This is not all that much of a big deal, especially in the future, once the problem of storing wind energy has been solved.
Developments lead to ever larger wind stations with ever greater capacities. Moreover we have doubled the licences for research and development into wind power. Denmark leads the world market in this area and over the coming years we shall be focussing substantially on biomass energy and wind power.”
6’38 K
The underlying potential of wind force has by no means been fully exploited yet in Europe. One of the major challenges is to work out a way to make wind power and other renewable sources of energy cost effective, so that they can subsist without market subsidies. Climate change and a world wide greed for raw materials motivate scientific research into alternative sources of energy – at least here in Denmark.