In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Denmark wants to temporarily expand its gas production in the North Sea. Families want to quickly convert to district heating. “We are convinced that it is better to extract gas from the North Sea than to buy it from Vladimir Putin,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. The government considers a quarter increase possible in the short term. Next year you can be independent from Russian imports.
However, the goal remains totally out of gas. For that, they want to expand renewable energy quickly. According to the government, wind and solar power generation is expected to quadruple by 2030.
Denmark wants to get rid of Russian gas as soon as possible and move homes that heat with fossil fuels to greener alternatives. As the prime minister told reporters in Copenhagen on Tuesday, all homeowners with gas or oil heating must receive written notification by the end of 2022 on whether or not they can buy district heating.
About 400,000 private homes in the country of six million now heat with natural gas. According to Climate Minister Dan Jørgensen, up to 50% of them will have switched to district heating by 2028 at the latest. The rest, where this is not possible, must have heat pumps, for example, or be exchanged for Danish gas, which the Danes call “green gas”. Currently, about 55% of all housing space in the state is heated with district heating and a total of about 27% with natural gas or oil.
In light of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the Danish government is also exploring possibilities with other actors to temporarily increase gas production from already licensed fields in the North Sea. This stems from a government proposal published at the same time to go green and move away from dependence on Russian gas. When the so-called Tyra field resumes operation after renovations in 2023, Denmark is expected to produce more gas than it consumes. In full operation, the field should be able to supply natural gas, which corresponds to up to seven percent of Germany’s current annual import of Russian gas.
ambitious goal
Viewed in isolation, Denmark will be independent from Russian gas as early as 2023, Frederiksen said. However, as part of the European gas network, this independence will only be achieved when Europe stops buying Russian gas. Not only national, but European solutions are needed. The head of government emphasized that security and energy policy cannot be separated.
Denmark wants to reduce its climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030 compared to 1990. Along the way, the government wants to, among other things, quadruple electricity production from solar farms and onshore wind power by 2030, as Frederiksen said. (apa, dpa, Reuters)