Energy Islands Denmark: Is the Future Bright?

Announced to much fanfare a few years ago, Energy Islands (EI) Denmark were presented as landmark projects for supercharging Europe's green transition.

The ambition:

• North Sea EI is offshore, with 3-10GW capacity, and operational by 2033

• Baltic Sea EI is onshore (Bornholm island), with 2-3GW capacity, and operational by 2030

The idea was to take energy from nearby offshore wind farms and share it neighbouring countries to supply millions of homes and businesses with affordable green electricity.

All sounds great but ambitious mega projects have a tendency to stall, and it turns out Energy Islands DK is no exception.

The current situation:

• North Sea EI is postponed by at least 3 years, its capacity scaled down to 2-3GW, and the DK-BE connection scrapped

• Baltic Sea EI is postponed indefinitely, and is criticised for being economically unviable, most recently by DK Chamber of Commerce

Do these Energy Islands have a future? That's what we're investigating with researchers at the Centre for Blue Governance, Aalborg University.