William Lim, the chief advisor at the Danish Energy Agency, gave an exclusive interview to Kitabistan while his visit to Baku within the framework of the "Nordic Talks" project which is carried out in collaboration with the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and with support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. We present that interview to our readers and viewers.

 

- Mr William Lim, I am pleased to welcome you to Baku as part of the Nordic Talks project. You are the chief advisor at the Danish Energy Agency. Could you describe the key roles and responsibilities of the Energy Agency in supporting the country's green transition?

- Yes. So, the Danish Energy Agency is an agency under the Danish Climate Energy and Utilities Ministry. We have the national responsibility for planning and permitting national energy projects when it comes to production, supply and consumption. We are also the Energy Agency that is responsible for providing analysis to the lawmakers and then finally we are also the one that are responsible for carbon emissions and developing policies to support us in reaching our climate goals. 

- Denmark was one of the first countries to transition to wind energy, pioneering the development and integration of wind turbines into its energy grid. Given Denmark's pioneering role in wind energy, how has the country's early transition to wind energy contributed to its overall green transition?

- Denmark's transition has been a long journey. We started already in the late '70s and throughout several decades we have made some incremental improvements to both our system and our regulation. Wind energy has been a great and important component because we have very good wind resources in Denmark. In that sense, it's played a very important role because it has been difficult to manage wind. That means that we had to develop regulation but also develop infrastructure that can support an increasing amount of wind in the entire system. So the role it has really played has been to push the boundaries slowly and steadily both in terms of regulation, infrastructure and technology over the past three, four and five decades. And then wind is a technology that has matured a lot. It's very very cost-competitive. It is fast to scale and it creates a lot of economic activity as well.

- What innovations has Denmark's wind energy strategy brought to global climate change policy, and how can this energy model be adopted by other countries to reduce global dependence on fossil fuels?

- If you look at the journey Denmark has been on - so, since 1990 we have managed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from the power, household and service sectors by 70% till to date. That is a significant increase. And obviously, that reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector has largely been driven by wind energy. Today, we have 40% wind capacity out of the total generation capacity of Denmark which is 17.5 gigawatts. I think the most important point to take away here is we have proven that it works and we have proven that it can work. So, I think what Denmark brings to the table in terms of global efforts to integrate wind is: number one, regulation is a two way street. We have through the years built a culture and a process for having a very very close dialogue with the market and industry in shaping our regulation to accommodate wind. Number two is we have managed to slowly push and guide our transmission operator to absorb more and more fluctuating energy in their systems. So we have been pushing the boundaries of technology as well. And then finally, we’ve obviously had some great success or made some great improvements on the technology side that has made it easier and more efficient and much more competitive to get wind in. So, I think those are the three big learnings that we can bring to the global table.

- What are Denmark's long-term goals for wind energy, and how is the Energy Agency contributing to achieving these objectives?

- Denmark's long-term climate goal is a 2050 goal which is to become climate neutral. But the intermediary goal, you can say, political one, is to have 100% green electricity supply by 2030. So, in 6 years time we aim to have 100% green electricity in our system. That's obviously enabled by a big chunk of wind. We are currently in the process of building that out. We are launching or have launched a 6 gigawatt offshore tender just recently which is planned to be completed by 2030 and 2031 around that time frame. When that is done we have more electricity in the system that we actually need. So, we can use that very very cost-competitive electricity for other purposes, such as power-to-x. So, wind is really a primary driver of our green transition towards a fossil-free, 100% green electricity system. But down the road also be the primary engine for us to produce green fuels for the hard-to-abate sectors. That's the role of wind energy for Denmark.

- Mr. William, thank you very much for your responses

- Thank you very much for inviting.

Malak Hajiyeva

12.10.2024