Middelgrunden
Encyclopedia
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
in the Øresund 3.5 km
outside Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. When it was built in 2000, it was the world's largest offshore farm, with 20 turbines and a capacity of 40 MW. The farm delivers about 4% of the power for Copenhagen.
History
In 1996, the project was initiated by the Copenhagen Environment and Energy Office (CEEO) after Middelgrunden had been listed as a potential site in the Danish Action Plan for Offshore Wind. Together with the CEEO a group of local people formed the Middelgrunden Wind Turbine Cooperative and established a cooperation with Copenhagen Energy, the local electric utilityPublic utility
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...
. The proposed location was initially opposed by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation
Danish Society for Nature Conservation
The Danish Society for Nature Conservation, in Danish Danmarks Naturfredningsforening, founded 1911, is an incorporated non-governmental organization based in Denmark...
, but this decision was later changed.
Concrete gravity base foundations were chosen as the cheapest option.
Public involvement
This project is an example for community wind energy. It is 50% owned by the 10,000 investors in the Middelgrunden Wind Turbine Cooperative, and 50% by the municipal utility company. Being clearly visible from the capital of Denmark it states the importance of wind power in DenmarkWind power in Denmark
Wind power provided 18.9% of electricity production and 24.1% of generation capacity in Denmark in 2008, Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today almost half of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas and...
.