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Danish climate minister proposing to subsidise solar energy
Lucie Rychla
August 20th, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
The aim is to reduce carbon emissions and comply with EU regulations
The energy and climate minister, Lars Christian Lilleholt, has submitted a new law proposal aimed at providing financial subsidies for the commercial production of solar energy.
The pilot provision of subsidies will be offered to companies producing electricity from photo-voltaic plants, with a total installed capacity of 20 MW, of which 2.4 MW must be purchased from other EEA countries.
Following EU ambitious plans
The new law is supposed to ensure Denmark’s compliance with international goals to increase the share of energy produced from renewable sources.
Last year, the EU decided to cut its carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, and to produce 27 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the same date.
READ MORE: Solar electricity target reached early
Danish subsidies for German panels
As a requirement from the European Commission, Denmark has to make the support scheme available to other EU markets, and so part of the subsidies will go to a country Denmark has a direct electrical connection with – namely Germany.
“There are enough solar plants on German soil that will be eligible for the initial offer because Denmark already has such agreements with Germany,” Jane Glindvad Kristensen, the managing director at the Danish Energy Agency, told Ingenøren.
However, the CO2 reductions gained from the use of the solar energy produced in Germany will be added to the German targets, not to the Danish ones.
Going against previous decisions
The proposal has just been submitted for a hearing and the tender is expected to be held early next year.
READ MORE: Solar panel subsidies suffer from second loophole
In 2013, the Danish government decided to lower subsidies for electricity produced by photo-voltaic plants, placed on the ground, due to increased speculations.
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