Orsted, Siemens Gamesa, DTU and Energinet are to join forces with Bornholm’s Regional Municipality, Bornholm’s Energy & Forsyning and Rønne Havn and others to establish the partnership Baltic Energy Island on Bornholm, Denmark.
The goal is to create a global hub for innovation, testing and business development within green energy.
Bornholm is expected to be the first place in the world where an energy island is established, which can form the basis for the future development of energy islands globally.
This will happen in 2030 with the establishment of an offshore wind farm with a wind capacity of 3GW.
However, the partnership is already joining forces to establish the commercial fund Baltic Energy Island as a hub for innovation and development of technologies that will affect the energy system in the Baltic Sea and globally.
In Baltic Energy Island, the partners will work in several main areas – including the development of the Baltic Sea as a centre for offshore wind and a green transport hub – and the use of Bornholm as a test island for green energy.
The partners will establish test facilities and develop technologies for energy islands and Power-to-X.
Another main area is the education of engineers and the training of companies so that they can become part of the green transition.
This will be with a view to helping other regions and countries with the transformation of their energy system and society.
In addition, a growth and innovation house will be established, where learning from testing and development is used in collaborations between students and businesses with a view to creating innovative and green business models.
The need for knowledge about and development of our energy system is great, and Baltic Sea has enormous potential for the establishment of several energy islands, according to the consortium.
The access to green energy and to testing opportunities that are scalable is crucial when technology manufacturers have to test their solutions in the future, and there are great expectations for Baltic Energy Island, they said.
At the same time, the foundation is eminently geared to deliver on the visions that follow from tomorrow’s Baltic Sea Energy Security Summit.
Orsted head of energy economics Ulrik Stridbæk said: “The Baltic Sea holds a great deal of untapped potential for both green transition and Danish business life.
“With Bornholm as an energy island and business beacon, we create the opportunity to collaborate on innovation and development of the green energy technologies that must go to work on the global market.
“Establishment of the commercial fund Baltic Energy Island is the first sod in this development, where the ambition is to create a national and international hub for green energy, which will already roll out the first projects in the new year.
“It is work that we at Orsted look forward to.”
Energinet deputy director for energy islands Hanne Storm Edlefsen said: “Energy islands are about getting massively up in scale and speed.
“And about sharing the energy of the sea wind between countries that want each other well.
“The technical, market and regulatory innovations needed to make energy islands succeed require massive collaboration between experts, companies, authorities, citizens and many more.
“With Baltic Energy Island, we get a place where they can meet. It is absolutely necessary, and at Energinet we are looking forward to being involved.”