WIND TURBINES ABOVE THE WAVES

ENVIRONMENT: Think of wind energy, and you think of Denmark. Since the 1980s Danish produced wind turbines have been installed all over the world. One of the major players on this market is Energi E2 Wind Energy

Kim Ernst, Vice President of E2 Wind Energy

“At E2 we have made a strategic decision to play an active role in the production of renewable energy from wind turbines,” says Kim Ernst, Vice President of E2 Wind Energy. “By supplementing our current business area on the Scandinavian energy markets, where our production is based on and dependent on fossil fuels, with investments in wind, we both reduce the total risk profile and increase our earnings. Wind energy is also an environmentally friendly technology which today makes by far the largest contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in Denmark. In fact around half of the CO₂ savings to which Denmark has committed itself through the Kyoto agreement, come from wind turbines.”

Compared to E2’s total production of electricity and heat from CHP plants however, wind energy accounts for a small part of the business. Of annual revenues of DKK 6.5 bn, the wind energy business generates a mere DKK 600 m. Output from currently installed wind turbines nonetheless corresponds to over 20% of Denmark’s electricity consumption.

E2 also has stature from a European perspective. “Globally, we are among the six largest businesses based on wind from wind turbines on land and off shore,” continues Kim Ernst, who makes no secret of the fact that this position must at least be maintained. “We have great expectations regarding offshore wind turbines, and we have the world’s largest offshore park, Nysted Havvindmøllepark, off the coast of Lolland. We have discovered that the local population is generally very interested in wind power, and most are sympathetic towards wind energy, but they don’t want turbines right next to where they live. So we are focusing on offshore parks which are so distant from residential areas, that noise and reflection nuisances are eliminated.”

Multi contracting
According to Kim Ernst, the offshore park at Nysted is currently the only one in the world which has been installed on time, on budget, and according to plan. That is because E2 used a different approach than normal where turnkey contracts dominate.

“Over the years we have developed a multicontracting approach where we have developed and professionalized our in house facilities to carry out the many tasks. We enter agreements with a number of sub-suppliers, who are then managed by building contractors from E2. Our overall strength is that we are experienced in tying the projects together and getting them to function according to plan. We introduced this concept when we started building CHP plants, and now we are continuing it with offshore parks. There are clearly many new problems when you are building offshore, like inspecting foundation work under water, but it is our opinion that all problems can be solved.”

As a pan-European operator, E2 has land-based and offshore production in Norway, Sweden, Spain and Greece. In the coming years, E2 will focus on continued expansion (in addition to Denmark) in Spain, and there are ongoing projects in Germany, UK and Portugal. In total there is a pipeline investment portfolio of between DKK 12-15 bn over a 5-6 year period.

http://www.energie2.com