By Maj-Britt Meyer Hansen, 2. July 2009
This year’s statistical survey analyses the Danish electricity sector in an international perspective.
Danish electricity consumers experience the highest level of security of supply in EU. Power is on 99.99 % of the time. During 2008 the average duration of interruptions in supply was 22 minutes, only.
The Danish electricity system becomes more and more secure, pro-environmental and consumer-friendly. 4800 km of overhead lines were subject to undergrounding in 2008. 440,000 Danish electricity consumers have smart meters with remote reading and, additionally, 240,000 consumers will have a smart meter installed during 2009. Electricity generated by wind turbines now accounts for 20 % of the total electricity generation.
Two thirds of the fuel consumed fired in large “central” power plants is coal. But the utilisation of coal energy on Danish power plants is substantially higher than the average of both the world and the EU. This technological stage is reflected in the tripling of the energy technology exports over the past ten years. Yet the coal is a stable energy resource. The world’s coal reserves will last for 130 years whereas natural gas will last for 60 years and oil for 40 years. Less that 20 % of the coal reserves are situated in the Middle East and Russia, countries who – according to experience – politically uses their dominance on the energy market for political objectives. Two thirds of oil and gas reserves are found in these regions.
Read about this and much more in the annual statistical survey “Danish Electricity Supply ‘08” published by the Danish Energy Association. This year the description of structure and development in the Danish electricity supply is supplemented with an international chapter and a chapter about the objectives of the energy companies.
Learn more about:
· The decline in electricity consumption in 2008 – in manufacturing industry in particular
· Electricity companies more than achieved the goals for energy efficiency
· Total emission of greenhouse gases in Denmark represent 0.15 % of the emissions in the world – and the Danish economy is more CO2 efficient than both the world and the EU
· 40 % of greenhouse gas emissions in Denmark are regulated by the EU ETS system - electricity and heat generation being the largest sector. 60 % is to be regulated by Danish national initiatives
· Green taxes bias towards low income groups
· Denmark is the ‘bridge’ between the hydro power in the Nordic countries and the ‘thermal’ electricity generation in continental Europe
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