Can wind become top energy source in the country? Denmark says yes it can.
Wind energy capacity is rapidly growing in many countries of the world, even despite some major drawbacks of using wind energy, most notably the intermittency of wind energy. The country where wind has taken the position of No.1 energy source is Denmark, where in December 2013, wind energy accounted for 55% of all energy consumed in the country. There still hasn't been any similar report elsewhere in the world meaning that Denmark is the first country that has broken the 50% threshold over an entire month.
Denmark has rather long history of wind energy use, and is today one of the world's largest offshore wind energy markets. Denmark was a pioneer in the sense of wind power commercialization, back in 1970s. Denmark is also one of the largest wind turbine producers in the world.
The last month of the 2013 was characterized by the frequent high winds which caused the output for Danish wind farms to be greater than normal, and there was also lower consumption by industries since many of them were closed over the Christmas period. These two factors have of course affected the total percentage but nonetheless wind has really proved its worth in Denmark as the top energy source.
The largest wind energy project in 2013 was the 400MW Anholt offshore wind farm, and Danes are looking forward to adding more wind power to the grid. Their goal is to generate at least 50% of its energy from wind by 2020 (on yearly base).
The country has very large offshore wind resources while land resources are pretty much average so further addition of more wind farms will likely continue to take place offshore.
Denmark also plans to be 100% renewable by the 2050. Judging by the rapid growth of wind energy installations and the new solutions in wind energy storage technologies this goal looks fairly achievable for the Danes.
