Denmark community ownership of renewables

A significant part of Denmark’s remarkable success with wind power generation has been its promotion of community ownership of wind farms. The community ownership has helped wind turbines overcome challenges such as limited space, costs and resistance to visual and noise impacts as local communities directly profit from power generation. For example, the Middelgrunden wind facility (20 turbines), which completed construction in 2000, invited private investment from local citizens. Ultimately, 8 650 Danes raised EUR 23 million to finance half the project’s cost and become 50% equity participants (the municipal utility owned the other half). The project’s success led to more energy cooperatives for wind farms throughout the country. And the municipal utility for the city of Copenhagen plans to build 100 more wind turbines by 2025 with local cooperatives invited to participate. Partnerships with local utilities have proven a successful model for renewable energy cooperatives as they facilitate grid connections for wind projects. Since 2009, the Danish Renewable Energy Act has required at least 20% ownership for all new wind projects.

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