Dong Energy Bids for 400-Megawatt Anholt Offshore Windfarm

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Danish energy giant Dong Energy (Copenhagen, Denmark) is pushing ahead with its transformation into a green energy company by submitting a binding tender to build a 400-megawatt (MW) offshore windfarm near the island of Anholt in the Kattegat waters between Denmark and Sweden.

The tender has been submitted to the Danish Energy Agency for permission to build what will be the country's largest offshore windfarm, which is expected to cost about 1.34 billion euros ($1.82 billion). The Danish government opened the bidding process last May as part of its target to generate half of the country's electricity from wind power by 2020. A decision is expected on April 19.

Today, there are more than 5,000 wind turbines in Denmark, generating about 3,200 MW of electricity, which accounts for almost 28% of the country's total electricity demand. For additional information, see related article from May 5, 2009 - Denmark Invites Bidders to Build 400-Megawatt Offshore Windfarm.

The government's timeframe for construction of the new Anholt windfarm is very tight and will see the facility constructed in a little more than two years, supplying its first power in 2012 and becoming fully operational in 2013. The farm will be capable of generating enough clean electricity for up to 400,000 homes, equivalent to 4% of Denmark's total consumption.

"Building Anholt offshore will be an important milestone in the expansion of renewable energy production in Denmark," said Anders Eldrup, CEO of Dong Energy. "Dong Energy has built half of the largest offshore windfarms in the world, making us one of the market leaders within this segment. The project will also fit well into our 85-15 plan to significantly increase our portfolio of renewable energy and to reduce CO2 emissions. Therefore, we found it natural to bid for Anholt offshore windfarm."

He added: "There are some tough conditions demanding that the first wind turbine be in operation by 2012 and all the others by 2013. It is a very short time limit in such a big project, and we have not seen such conditions in the U.K. projects, in which we are involved."

Last September, Denmark and Dong celebrated the opening of the world's largest offshore windfarm with the commissioning of the 209-MW Horns Rev-2 facility off the west coast of the country. The project took 18 months to complete and uses 91 Siemens SWP 2.3-MW wind turbines. For additional information, see related article from September 25, 2009 - World's Biggest Offshore Windfarm Begins Operation in Denmark.

Dong Energy is also involved in a number of large U.K. offshore wind projects, with construction ready to get under way on the 367.2-MW Walney offshore windfarm, located 14 kilometres off the Isle of Walney in the Irish Sea. For additional information, see related article from February 10, 2010 - U.K. Prepares for Construction of Windfarms off Cumbrian Coast. Dong is also a partner in the 1-gigawatt London Array project, the world's largest offshore windfarm, alongside consortium partners Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) and German power and gas company E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany).

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