“Something is warm in the state of Denmark”

Denmark has in many respects been a role model for the Energiewende, but not all ideas put into practice by the small northern neighbour country are transferable to far bigger Germany, Jens Tartler writes in Der Tagesspiegel. Germany is much more densely populated and has many far larger cities  which, for instance, makes requirements for district heating systems a lot more challenging, Tartler explains. “But this doesn’t change the fact that there are many lessons to be learned,” he adds. Denmark hosted 29 of Europe’s 30 biggest solar power stations, gained 40 percent of its electricity from windmills, has prohibited the use of oil and gas heating in new buildings and “generally will let all licenses for burning coal expire by 2030”, Tartler says.

For more information on the Energiewende and Germany’s neighbours, see the CLEW dossier Germany's energy transition in the European context.