COWI assists sites screening for future offshore wind farms

COWI in collaboration with Energinet assisted the Danish Energy Agency in fine screening potential sites for future offshore wind farms and energy islands in Denmark.

The screening shows that additional offshore wind farms in Denmark, either as standalone wind farms or farms connected to energy islands in the North Sea and near the island of Bornholm, can be built within selected areas.

The site of Denmark’s latest offshore wind farms is one step closer to realization. COWI conducted a fine screening of the optimum sites for Denmark’s new, planned offshore turbines, on behalf of the Danish Energy Agency and in cooperation with Energinet.

The screening comprises areas where offshore wind farms with a capacity of more than 18 GW can be built.

“The screening looked into the possibilities of establishing solitary offshore wind farms in specific selected areas as well as having several interconnected offshore wind farms connected to the so-called energy islands: Power production hubs between local offshore wind turbines that connect to and distribute power between several countries.”

Tore Lucht, project manager and head of section, wind energy and renewables at COWI.

For each potential wind farm, COWI studied areas in Nordsøen I (south of the future offshore wind farm Thor), Hesselø and Kriegers Flak II. For the interconnected farms, areas further into the North Sea and in the vicinity of the island of Bornholm were studied.  

“We assessed and compared sites based on both economic and environmental considerations. In terms of economy, we used the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) model to calculate how the site locations would affect the life cycle costs of the offshore wind farms. We also carried out investigations on the local nature and environment in the areas and studied local planning conditions, and together with StormGeo, we collected and combined big data on the wind conditions at the sites.”

Jan Behrendt Ibsø, VP, wind energy and renewables at COWI.

Overall, the screening shows that offshore wind farms can be established in all the areas that were screened.