Denmark as a world leader in renewables - the myth and the reality

This is the energy picture the Danes like to project to foreign audiences

The Danes enjoy portaying themselves as world leaders when it comes to wind power and other "renewable" energy. During the last few years a great number of  wind power companies have been established in Denmark, benefiting from generous government subsidies.

However, without these subsidies not one of the "world famous" Danish wind farms would be profitable. But not even the government largesse, courtesy of the taxpayers/consumers seems to be enough to keep wind power profitable in Denmark; Scan Energy, one of the major wind and solar energy companies, with production also in Germany and France, has finally called it a day. Among the major shareholders are a number of the biggest Danish farming estates. Now there is, according to the Danish daily Jylland-Posten, a real risk that some of these family estates, built up during centuries, will have to be sold as a consequense of the Scan Energy bankruptcy.

At the same time the big Danish wind tubine manufacturer Vestas is also having a hard time. It just lost a huge Swedish order to German Siemens.

The Danish reality should be an important lesson to businesses and investors everywhere: investing in something that is almost entirely based on government subsidies, is an extremely risky business and should be avoided, no matter how enticing the politically correct climate change offerings may appear!

 

PS

Robert Bryce gives an accurate account of the Danish reality in his book "Power Hungry: The myths of ‘green’ energy and the real fuels of the future:

“(A) close look at Denmark’s energy sector shows that its embrace of wind power has not resulted in ‘energy independence, nor has it made a major difference in the country’s carbon dioxide emissions, coal consumption, or oil use."

“Despite massive subsidies for the wind industry and years of hype about the wonders of Denmark’s energy policies, the Danes now have some of the world’s most expensive electricity … And in 2007, their carbon dioxide emissions were at about the same level as they were two decades ago.”