Denmark and Germany approve Baltic Sea wind hub to offset Russian gas

Denmark says it will increase its planned offshore wind power to help Europe limit its reliance on Russian gas.

The project will connect to the German grid and should be able to supply electricity to 4.5 million European homes in 2030.

A 470-kilometre undersea cable is expected to run from the Danish island of Bornholm to northern Germany through the Baltic Sea.

German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck described the proposal as a “flagship project”.

“With such projects among European partners, we achieve two key goals at the same time; European energy security and climate neutrality,” he added.

Currently, Denmark and Germany have respective offshore wind energy capacities of 1.5 gigawatts and 1 gigawatts.

But the new deal — announced in Copenhagen on Monday — will increase the Danish wind power capacity in the Baltic Sea to 3 gigawatts.

Denmark’s energy minister Dan Jørgensen has said that “international cooperation is more urgent than ever before” to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to make Europe independent from Russian gas and oil.”

On Friday, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said wind from the Baltic Sea could produce “more than twice the installed capacity of all German coal-fired power stations.”

Baltic Sea countries “need to set the sails, work together and set course towards making our region more sustainable, more resilient and more secure,” Baerbock said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has remained committed to ending the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, before any other major industrialised nation.

To meet the goal, Scholz’s government has said it will close coal-fired power plants that were reactivated due to the war in Ukraine, end imports of Russian oil and coal this year, and aim to stop using Russian gas within the next two years.

Monday’s announcement comes a day before an energy summit in Copenhagen to discuss ways “to make the Baltic Sea region free of Russian energy and at the same time pave the way for a significant green transition”.