How Denmark is Leading the way in Renewable Energy

The addition of 2 new revolutionary power plants to Copenhagen's cityscape has caused reverberations in the renewable energy market felt in all corners of the globe. The 2 new £670m BIO4 power plant boats a striking 46 meter facade from which a garden of greenery can be seen, signifying the sustainable wood-chips which now heat and power the city.

These power plants are a key part of Copenhagen's aim of being net-zero carbon by 2025.

While the new power plants are a key element of this plan, there are several other, smaller renewable systems which are being integrated into the existing district heating system. These include solar heating, large-scale heat pumps, biogasification of organic waste, geothermal energy and surplus heat from industry.

Denmark has also seriously invested in other technologies such as wind turbines and thermal storage facilities. Since 2010 Copenhagen has used seawater to create a district cooling system and this network is still growing. The city is also striving to replace the fossil fuels which are used in peak and reserve load boilers in district heating with biofuel, electric boilers and biogas.

As a result of these sweeping targets Denmark is attracting interest from around the world with countries such as Ukraine looking to overhaul their inefficient DH system.