In 2015, according to figures released by Energinet.dk, Danish wind turbines generated what corresponds to 42% of Danish electricity consumption. In Jutland and on Funen, in fact, wind power supplied more electricity than the total load for 1460 hours of the year.
This is the highest figure ever, and the highest proportion for any country. In 2014, the figure was 39% - also a world record, and in 2013, 32.7%.
These figures illustrate that the Danish and European energy systems are undergoing huge changes, and that renewable energy will change the way the electricity systems are operated. "Hours with wind power production exceeding consumption is not in itself unusual, but the fact that we are now generating surplus power 16 % of the time in the Western Danish power grid illustrates that increasingly fluctuating electricity generation means that we can benefit from imports and exports across borders to an even greater extent. If, for some hours, we have surplus wind energy, the producers sell it to consumers in Norway, Sweden and Germany, and, conversely, we buy hydroelectric power from Norway, solar energy from Germany and power station electricity from Sweden, when it is advantageous for Denmark", said Carsten Vittrup, an energy strategy adviser for Energinet.dk's energy analysis section.
Out of the year's 8760 hours, Western Denmark had 65 hours and Eastern Denmark 36 hours with 'negative prices', ie hours with electricity generation levels so high that producers must pay to get rid of the electricity. Negative prices provide wind turbine owners, among others, with an incentive to turn off their wind turbines for the few hours during which the supply of electricity exceeds the demand. However, negative pricing occur in less than 1% of the time.
One of the main reasons for 2015 being a record year is that it was a very windy year compared to 2014, which, from a wind perspective, was a normal year. Conversely, two offshore wind farms, Anholt and Horns Rev 2, were out of operation for one and two months, respectively, due to cable faults. Excluding these cable faults, the wind power share would have been about 43.5%.
2015 was also a spectacular year in other areas. For the first time ever, power was supplied to the grid for a whole day without any of the country's large central power stations being in operation. This has never happened before for an entire calendar day. On 2 September, the Danes were supplied with electricity exclusively from wind turbines, solar cells, local CHP plants and via imports from neighbouring countries. Denmark also experienced the highest wind power share in any hour in 2015. On the 26 July between 6 and 7 am wind power production equalled 138.7 % of total consumption.
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