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ENERGY

Could Denmark suffer electricity blackouts this winter?

Denmark’s Energy Agency says it has plans in place to implement short, localised power cuts in case of acute electricity shortages this winter.

Could Denmark suffer electricity blackouts this winter?
Short, localised electricity blackouts in Denmark this winter are unlikely but the risk has increased, according the the national energy board. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The director of the Energy Agency (Energistyrelsen), Kristoffer Böttzauw, told broadcaster DR that Denmark could experience a shortage of electricity for limited periods this winter. But the risk of the electricity supply to homes being cut remains low, he added.

“This is the first time in many, many years that we are in a situation where we genuinely are looking at whether it could be necessary [to cut power to homes],” Böttzauw told DR.

“If we now hit a very hard, cold winter, and the wind is calm at the same time, so we don’t have energy from the wind turbines, then we will be in a place where we have a stressed energy system,” he said.

Current prognoses from the Energy Agency are that the situation is unlikely to be severe enough for power cuts, but the risk of short blackouts has nevertheless increased.

Authorities can usually tell about a day in advance if demand is likely to exceed supply, giving them time to ask large industrial consumers to cut down, the energy agency director told DR. 

If this measure is unsuccessful, there could be blackouts for private customers. They would last two hours at a time for specific, small areas across the country, and customers aren’t notified in advance. 

The blackouts would affect 10 to 20 percent of customers in either half or all of Denmark at one time, DR writes. The extent of the blackout could cover an individual neighbourhood or part of a city at a time, Böttzauw said.

“If there is then a need to continue to shut off the electricity, it will be new areas that are affected,” he said.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: When should I turn on my heating in Denmark this year?

Although essential buildings like hospitals are not protected from the power cuts, they have emergency supplies available.

Böttzauw stressed that power cuts would only be used as a last measure in an emergency situation to prevent the entire system from collapsing.

Shut offs of this kind were described as unlikely by Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of energy planning at Aalborg University.

“It’s very unrealistic that we’ll be in that situation. But it would be irresponsible if authorities weren’t ready if it was something we had to do,” Mathiesen said to DR.

“I expect there to be blackouts in Germany and France in certain areas but certainly don’t expect it to happen in Denmark,” he said.

He added that “additional elements for the perfect storm” would be needed for Denmark to find itself in a situation where a power cut to homes was required.

“That could be a lot of energy use in Norway, Sweden and Germany at the same time as some outages at power plants here and there. That could mean that countries would have problems with their supply, and that might affect Denmark,” he said.

READ MORE: Danish heating company asks customers not to turn on heating

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ENERGY

Danish electricity company announces ‘record negative prices’ after sunny May

A high number of sunny days in May gave Danish energy company Norlys a record number of hours in which its energy prices were negative, the company said on Monday.

Danish electricity company announces 'record negative prices' after sunny May

Last month saw a total of 75 and 59 hours of ‘negative’ electricity prices in the western and eastern halves of Denmark respectively, Norlys said in a press release.

Unfortunately, a ‘negative’ price doesn’t mean you will be paid for switching the lights on, because taxes and transport costs must still be added to the base price.

Specifically, the total price paid by customers can include (in addition to the base rate) state tariffs, subscriptions, one-off charges, VAT and payments to the local energy grid.

Tariffs, like the cost of raw electricity, can also fluctuate from hour to hour. This depends on the tariff model used by individual companies.

But lower electricity prices can be taken advantage of by setting timers on thirsty appliances like dishwashers and tumble dryers and running them at these times. This can include off-peak times of the day when there is less demand for power, as well as fluctuations related to production.

READ ALSO: 

The total of 134 hours across Denmark in which customers receive a discount due to the negative ‘raw’ energy price is a record for a single month, Norlys said.

“We know that many of our customers follow electricity prices closely and the trend in May also underlines that there is a very good reason for this,” Norlys director for energy sales Mads Brøgger said in the statement.

“It’s good for your wallet and the green transition alike if you can plan your consumption for the hours in which there is a lot of sun and wind, making the electricity price low,” he said.

READ ALSO: How an app function can help cut your Danish electricity bill

May’s high frequency of negative base electricity rates can be attributed to the pleasant spring weather, which provided both wind and sun to the energy system in Denmark.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s electricity infrastructure has become more closely connected to other parts of Europe, notably Germany and The Netherlands. Both countries have increased their solar power capacity in recent years.

“It benefits us to have many sunshine hours, as was the case in May. Meanwhile, energy consumption was low in May because it was warm enough not to need electricity for heating, but not hot enough to need it for cooling. So there was a sweet spot in many ways,” Brøgger said.

The trend of low electricity prices has so far continued into June, with negative base rates occurring on Sunday for a number of hours in both the eastern and western parts of the country.

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