Second headline Bornholm Energy Island

When Denmark decided in 2020 to build windfarms in the Baltic Sea off the island of Bornholm, the idea was that the power they produced would be brought ashore, converted at a station there and sent by cable to greater Copenhagen and to northern Germany. With a combined capacity of 3GW, the windfarms would have more than doubled Denmark’s offshore wind capacity when they began producing power sometime around 2030.

Six years on, the project, known as Bornholm Energy Island, is going ahead, but it looks different. Costs have risen, and Germany has become its biggest backer: under an agreement concluded in February, Berlin will pay 70% of the cost to build the windfarms in exchange for most of the power they generate. Denmark has set aside 42.6 billion kroner (€5.7 billion) for its share.

The timetable has stretched too. The windfarms will not be put out to tender until 2027 or 2028, and they are not expected to produce power until 2034-2036—a date the agreement itself warns may slip. Energinet and 50Hertz, the Danish and German grid operators, have nevertheless signed contracts for the cables and converter stations, and building on Bornholm starts next year.

That leaves Bornholm time to work out what it will get out of it. The council wants some of the power to be made available to local energy-intensive businesses, and investors in data centres and hydrogen-based fuels have already come calling. Where the park will go, and whether the council will steer its development or leave it to investors, has yet to be decided. The energy island’s power may be a decade away, but interest in it is now.

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