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Last year, generous subsidies combined with falling prices for roof modules led to a boom in the number of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems added to the grid in Denmark. At the end of 2011, only 3000 Danish households had a rooftop PV system, amounting to a combined capacity of 10 MW. Barely twelve months later, more than 43,000 homeowners had a PV system installed on their roofs – with a total capacity of 223 MW. Denmark had exceeded its 2020 solar energy target (200 MW) eight years early.
Even though this subsidized solar energy boom has now come to a halt, with the Danish Government's decision in November last year to cut back the net-metering scheme, Denmark remains a highly attractive growth market. This potential will be the core theme of the upcoming solar PV strategy conference ‘The Solar Future: Denmark’
, which will take place on 21 March in Copenhagen’s Radisson Blu Scandinavia.
Denmark has one of the highest energy rates in Europe (26.8 eurocents per kWh – over 22 cents of which is composed of taxes) and this will continue to push renewable energy sources.
Experts believe a new boom is just around the corner. The new law makes PV systems larger than 6 KW eligible for subsidies, thereby promoting larger-scale solar power projects. Housing associations and companies can look forward to receiving subsidies for installing PV arrays on rooftops.
The Danish interest group for housing associations, Danmarks Almene Boliger, consisting of approximately 650 members with a total of half a million apartments in Denmark, has expressed its enthusiasm about the new rules.
A recent survey shows that three out of every four Danish housing associations are keen to invest in PV arrays. And they want to do it soon – within the next two years.
The PV market for office buildings is also promising due to strict Danish regulations concerning energy efficiency for buildings, applicable from 2015 and 2020.
Furthermore, this small Scandinavian country, with only 5.6 million inhabitants, has a strong and broad political and social commitment to renewable energy. The Danish Parliament has decided that renewables should account for 35 per cent of the Danish energy supply by 2020, a percentage that will be ramped up to 100 per cent by 2050.
International Solar PV Conference
The international conference ‘The Solar Future: Denmark’
takes place on 21 March 2013 in Copenhagen. The focus of the conference will be the new conditions and opportunities in the Danish Solar PV market.
Venue: Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel, Amager Boulevard 70, 2300 København.
For programme and speakers see: www.thesolarfuture.dk/program/
