Orsted is planning to establish the island of Bornholm as Denmark’s first offshore wind cluster interconnecting with two to three neighbouring countries to deliver up to 5GW of power.
The Danish company said the hub could potentially connect with Poland, Sweden and possibly Germany.
Orsted said that the first step would be for Denmark to put a 1GW offshore wind farm at Ronne Banke out for tender to be built at the same time as new interconnectors between the country and Poland.
“The offshore wind farm and the interconnector to Poland can ensure a high security of supply on Zealand, while also delivering large amounts of power for driving the green electrification of society,” the company said.
Orsted said that the Danish transmission system operator Energinet had already suggested an interconnector between Zealand and Poland in the EU’s ‘Ten Year Network Development Plan’.
“It is a realistic project to combine this connection with an offshore wind farm with a 1GW capacity which can ensure reliable and cheap power to Denmark and Poland by 2028,” it added.
Orsted said areas south-west of Bornholm are reserved for government tenders of offshore wind, and, in an April study, the Danish Energy Agency estimated the potential of these areas to above 3GW.
After the interconnection between Denmark and Poland, the project may be expanded with connections to other countries, such as Sweden and Germany, the company said.
The energy island vision would also pave the way for the next phase in Denmark’s green transition, where the production of renewable hydrogen can make aviation, shipping and heavy road transport carbon neutral, it added.
This could deliver a “decisive and necessary contribution to the Danish government’s ambition of lowering Denmark’s carbon emissions by 70% by 2030”, Orsted said.
Orsted offshore chief executive Martin Neubert said: “Offshore wind clusters with transmission to several countries are a necessity if we’re to realise offshore wind’s enormous potential in making Europe green.
“Before constructing large artificial sand islands in the North Sea, we suggest combining existing deployment plans for transmission and designated offshore wind areas with an existing granite island, namely Bornholm.
“The first steps towards realising the vision of Bornholm as an energy island is to design a tender, and we suggest that the tender includes both the offshore wind farm and interconnectors from Zealand over Bornholm to Poland in order to secure the technically best solution at the lowest price.”