The Danish government is to postpone the tender for its North Sea energy island until later this year.
Its Ministry for Climate, Energy and Utilities said, while the ambition of realising an energy island in the North Sea still stands, the current concept of the island have turned out to cost above DK50bn, which is “far from living up to the political requirement of profitability”.
It said in a statement: “At this point the costs and risks of the current project is too high. This postpones the decision to open the public tender for the energy island until later this year.”
This additional time will be used to determine if there is a better or cheaper way to realise the concept, it added.
The energy islands are an entirely new concept, and it is among the first of its kind in the world, the Ministry said.
Because of the never-before-seen-nature of the concept, it is constantly evolving and the Ministry and the Danish Energy Agency along with the state’s advisors and other partners are continuously learning more about the different possibilities for realising it, it added.
The Danish government will investigate and research more options to make sure there isn’t a better way of realising an energy island in the North Sea and make it profitable.
Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard said: “The North Sea has a massive potential for offshore wind – and the government still have the ambition to realize an energy island in the North Sea.
“The project is important for both the green transition and the energy security of Denmark and the rest of Europe.
“But when we’re planning projects of that size, we need to make sure we’re doing it right way and choosing the smartest solutions – and that’s exactly what we’re doing now.”
According to the original schedule for the energy island, the tender was supposed to start in the spring of 2023.