IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2021 - 101

still owned most of the 6,300 wind turbines in Denmark. As the efficiency
of wind power technologies improved,
public utilities also started investing in
wind farms (see Figure 8).

Growing Resistance
to Wind Farms
The twin towers terror attack on 11
September 2001 in the United States
shadowed the turn of the century, and
in 2006, messages from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth by
Al Gore and Davis Guggenheim hit
the headlines.
In 2000, approximately 13% of
the total national electricity consumption in Denmark was produced by the
power of the wind. With a production capacity of approximately 2 MW,
the total height of the newest onshore
wind turbines now exceeded 100 m at
the tips of the wings. As these modern
wind power plants grew in height and
number, they also became more prominent throughout the Danish landscape.
The turn of the century was not
favorable for renewable energy technologies in Denmark. With the rightwing government in power from 2001,
incentives supportive of renewables
were cut back, policies were uncertain, and the now-liberalized electricity market fluctuated. As the modern
wind turbines grew to industrial-scale
height and capacity, technical and legal
complexities increased accordingly as
did the investments and risks involved.
Owners of these industrial-scale wind
farms were typically private investors,
companies, external developers, utilities, or public/private partnerships. The
role and importance of the bottom-up
wind farm cooperative movement from
the early days of wind power dwindled.
Historically, wind power and wind
turbines had been popular among the
Danish public. However, plans for local wind farms became a source of
social controversy. Support for local
wind farm projects could not be taken
for granted. Groups in opposition to
specific local wind farm projects mobilized, stories of resistance to local
wind farms frequently made the news,
may/june 2021

and sometimes political support for
municipal wind farm planning initiatives was lacking.
In 2008, the winds of political change
favored the planning and deployment of
renewable energy -
technologies-and
wind farms-yet again. A broad political coalition Energy Agreement outlining future low-carbon energy-transition
processes and initiatives was negotiated,
and wind farm planning was prioritized.
Supporting the integration of renewable

energy resources in the energy system,
the Renewable Energy Act (REA) gathered all renewable energy technologyrelated legislation into one comprehensive legal framework. REA comprised
four policy measures promoting local
engagement in and acceptance of new
local wind farms among the local public.
For -example, future wind farm " neighbors " would be offered the opportunity
to invest in wind farm shares (minimum
20% of the wind farm project) according

figure 6. The Rødby Fjord Wind Farm, Denmark, 3 MW. (Courtesy of Vestas
Wind Systems.)

figure 7. The Hvide Sande Wind Farm, Denmark, 3 MW. (Courtesy of Vestas
Wind Systems.)
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2021

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