No time at the present Bornholm’s green industry estate on stand-by

By The Hanseatic | 20 March 2025

Bornholm should table its proposed industry estate until Copenhagen decides whether it will go ahead with its plans to build the converter station for two off-shore wind farms that would power the facility, an island council committee says.

A vote will be put before the full council later this month, but Jacob Trøst, the mayor, believes the national government’s decision in January to wait until after the German federal election to make its final decision makes proceeding impractical.

It is hoped that Germany will purchase the majority of the 3 megawatts of electricity the wind farms would produce. The rest is expected to be sent to eastern Denmark, but Bornholm would like some of it to be used to power an industry estate that would act as a crucible for energy start-ups.

Island businesses want work on the industry estate to continue. Questions like where it would be placed and when it would come on-line may be unanswerable at the moment, but, argues Michael Almeborg, the chair of the local chapter of DI, that should not stop the council from lining up the firms who will want to hear the answers when the council finally has them.

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Wrong time to find right place for industry estate

By The Hanseatic | 27 September 2024

Local lawmakers on Bornholm have voted down a motion to begin the process of identifying potential sites for an industry estate that could serve as a crucible for energy start-ups once a planned converter station for off-shore wind farms comes on-line.

Tendering for the converter station on the southern coast and two wind farms capable of powering 4.5 million homes has begun. Collectively known as Energy Island Bornholm, it is due to begin producing power in 2030, and that, according to a majority of the environment, nature and planning committee, is too far off—and the outcome of the project still far too uncertain—to being looking for places to place an estate.

Helle Munk Ravnborg, the committee chair, told TV2/Bornholm, a local broadcaster, that identifying sites for potential development while the future of Energy Island Bornholm was unclear, and before the full council has decided to build an industry estate, would be an unnecessary worry for property owners in or near areas selected as suitable sites.

The council’s finance and climate committee is due to consider the same question when it meets on Wednesday. If it is approved, the proposal will come before the full council.

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