Denmark, Germany sign agreement on joint offshore wind project "Bornholm Energy Island"

The governments of Denmark and Germany have signed a legally binding cooperation agreement for a joint offshore wind power project on the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, the economy ministry said in a press release. “The project creates the basis for future green electricity imports to Germany and will make our electricity supply cheaper, more secure and less dependent on fossil fuels,” economy minister Robert Habeck said. Over 3 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power generation capacity are to be connected on Bornholm by the early 2030s – The electricity produced on the “Bornholm Energy Island" will then be transported via new grid connections to Germany (2 GW) and to the Danish mainland (1.2 GW). The project is part of a larger agreement for closer cooperation on offshore wind between the two countries. The agreement is the first of its kind that follows the guidelines of a provisional EU agreement on the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) from March, which stipulates that such binding agreements are necessary for cross-border projects. This means that the project’s output can be counted in equal parts towards the German and Danish contributions to the EU target under the directive.

EU countries are pushing for a faster expansion of offshore wind, for example in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark have recently agreed to expand offshore wind power generation capacity in the North Sea tenfold to at least 150 gigawatts (GW) by 2050. The renewed focus on wind power is a major boost for Germany's offshore wind sector after a recent decline that saw offshore capacity expansion almost slow to a standstill.