Denmark broke wind power world record

In 2015, wind turbines generated 42 percent of Denmark’s energy consumption—breaking the world record for the highest proportion of any country. Last year, the world record was 39 percent, held by none other than, yes, Denmark.

In Western Denmark, wind power, in fact, supplied more electricity than the total consump-tion for 1,460 hours of the year. One of the main reasons for 2015 being a record year is that was a very windy year compared to 2014, which, from a wind perspective, was a normal year.

“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”, says Carsten Vittrup, Energy Strategy Adviser in Energinet.dk’s Energy Analysis section.

The energy surplus allowed power to be supplied to the Danes for a whole day without any of the country’s large central power stations being in operation. This has never happened before for a whole day running.

On September 2, 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 July 26 between 6 and 7 a.m. wind power production equaled 138.7 percent of the total consumption. In 2014 the last record was set at 132.1 percent