The facility will be located on the waters off the coast of Jutland.
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Denmark will push ahead with plans to build a huge artificial island in the North Sea that will act as a major renewable energy hub at a cost of billions of dollars.
The Danish Energy Agency, which is part of the government’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities, said on Thursday that the project would be owned by a public-private partnership, with the Danish state holding a majority stake.
The scale of the project, which will be located in waters 80 kilometers off the coast of Jutland, the large peninsula that contains the Danish mainland, is considerable.
The first phase, which will have a capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW), will involve approximately 200 marine wind turbines that send electricity to the center, which will distribute it to nearby countries through the grid.
In the future, the capacity of the hub could be expanded to 10 GW. That, according to Danish authorities, would be enough to feed 10 million households in Europe. Depending on its final capacity, the island will occupy an area of between 120,000 and 460,000 square meters.
The estimated cost of building the artificial island, 10 GW of capacity and transmission network required will amount to DKK 210 billion ($ 33.977 billion).
“The North Sea energy center will be the largest construction project in Danish history,” Danish climate minister Dan Jørgensen said in a statement.
“It will make a great contribution to realizing the enormous potential of European offshore wind energy, and I am delighted with our future collaboration with other European countries,” he added.
The project will move forward now and the Danish climate department will enter into discussions with potential private sector investors. At the political level, the conditions of the tender will be negotiated, the new legislation will be approved and environmental impact assessments will be carried out.
In addition to the artificial island, a second 2 GW power center is also being planned for the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.
Denmark is a pioneer when it comes to offshore wind projects. The world’s first offshore wind farm, in the waters off the Danish island of Lolland, was commissioned by Orsted (the company formerly known as DONG Energy) in 1991. Other Danish companies, such as turbine manufacturer Vestas , are the main players in wind energy.
Looking to the future, the European Union, of which Denmark is a member, wants its offshore wind capacity to reach 60 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by the middle of the century.