[Report] Denmark, a renewable energy leader -- (3) Positive outlook on problems

(November 6, 2009)

Plans for construction of a huge offshore wind farm with a total output of 1,600 MW on the Baltic Sea are attracting attention in Europe. Referred to as a "supergrid," the farm is to be built jointly by Denmark, Germany and Sweden. It represents the world's first attempt to construct an offshore wind farm by more than one country. The plan will actually get under way five or six years in the future. Besides this project, Denmark has hammered out a vision for development of a combined 5,200 MW of wind power output in eight different sea areas. Development of wind power appears to be moving ahead, but problems are also surfacing in the process. The major one is fluctuation of output along with wind velocity.

In January 2005, there occurred an incident that gave all concerned parties quite a scare. The western part of the country, where 75% of the installed capacity of wind power facilities is located, was visited by a violent storm. The windmills were designed to stop automatically once the wind velocity exceeded 25 meters per second, and the storm put most of them out of action. Although coal-fired power stations were pressed into service to fill the gap, they took at least six hours to start up. The country would inevitably have experienced a widespread power outage if some other step had not been taken. As it turned out, it weathered the crisis by procuring power from neighboring Norway and Sweden.

Taking a lesson from this incident, Denmark began to take a serious look at the question of how to deal with the variability of output generated with wind. The issue calls for more precise forecasting of output fluctuation, development of thermal power stations for alternative use, and, over the medium and long terms, reinforcement of the power system. It also demands studies of measures for use of surplus power generated at night. The country therefore seems to be facing a daunting array of issues, but several people interviewed for this report voiced positive-minded comments to the effect that expansion of wind power generation was a "wonderful challenge." The ability to view problems as challenges indicates that Danes are strongly committed to wind power and that the idea of adapting the power system and society to it is taking root.

Unlike Denmark, Japan has positioned nuclear energy instead of wind power as its key type of power generation facility. In spite of this, it does not appear to be engaged in steadily promoting nuclear energy like Denmark is promoting wind power. And in the world of politics, people are avoiding discussion concerning nuclear energy as the trunk and talking only about "branches" such as photovoltaic power generation. (Last installment in the series)