Danish national transmission system operator, Energinet.dk, postponed the COBRA Cable project that will link the country to the Netherlands and will be part of an integrated European grid. According to the company’s modified plans, published on December 14, the link could be completed in 2017, instead of the previously planned completion in 2016.
Energinet.dk and TenneT Holding BV plan to develop the COBRA Cable in order to allow the integration of more renewable energy into the Dutch and Danish power systems and to increase security of supply.
Denmark’s wind power generation will almost double by 2020; therefore, the country prepares to increase electricity links to other countries to help balance variable demand. Energinet.dk plans to install a new onshore link to Germany in 2018 in addition to an offshore connection via the proposed Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm in 2019, and it also has plans to connect to the UK.
“This is a massive step backward for the Danish power system at a time when the country’s dependence on cross-border cables is growing,” Charlotte Soendergren, chief consultant at the Danish Energy Association , told Bloomberg.
She concluded: “While Energinet goes into hibernation, Norwegians are building new links to the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany, undermining both Denmark’s benefits from new cables and the country’s ability to optimize the balancing of our power system.”
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Offshore WIND Staff, December 17, 2012; Image: Energinet.dk