WREC 1996
WIND ENERGY PLANNING IN DENMARK
SKJOLD RECHENBACH NIELSEN, HEAD OF SECTION MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGI, SPATIAL PLANNING DEPARTMENT Hojbro Plads 4, DK-1200, Copenhagen K, Denmark
ABSTRACT Sites for 1500 MW wind power in Denmark by 2005 - and perhaps 3000 MW i 2021 - will be found through a decentralized planning process with public participation. The Wind turbines will be sited in parks and clusters in order to secure a good economy and a satisfactory in the landscape. Very large wind turbines (mega turbines) will be sited in technical landscapes, in the open country where it will be possible to intergrate the turbines in the actuel landscapes, and offshore.
INTRODUCTION Danish energy policy emphasizes the use of renewable and indigenous energy sources, and wind energy has played a key role in this since the mid seventies. The basis of the present Danish wind energy policy is “Energy 2000 - Action Plan for a Sustainable Development” adopted by the government in 1990. It is expected that by 2005 wind capacity will amount to 1500 MW, enabling wind energy to supply approximately 10% of Danish electricity demand. A new action plan - “Energy 21” - is in preparation with an aim for the wind energy policy after 2005. It is expected that the wind power expansion will contenue, and the intentions are that the wind capacity will amount to 3000 MW or approximately 20% of Danish electricity demand by 2021. An expansion of wind power in this size will not be possible in the open country. Therefore the greatest importance will be attached to offshore wind turbines in the new action plan. Today about 4500 wind turbines with a total capacity of 600 MW are in operation in Denmark. Nearly all of them produce electricity and are connected to the grid.
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Approximately 30 % of wind capacity is established and operated by the power companies and 70 % by private owners. The Danish power companies take part in research, development, and demonstration of new types of wind turbines, and they install wind turbines of various sizes. Offshore wind turbines can be owned by the power companies exclusively. There are two offshore wind farms in operation in Denmark today - a demonstration project with 11 wind turbines and a total capacity of 5 MW sited 2 km from the coast in east-Denmark (Vindeby) and a demonstration project with 10 wind turbines and a total capacity of 5 MW sited 3 km from the coast in west-Denmark (Tunoe Knob).
DANISH PLANNING LEGISLATION Wind turbines are considered to affect their physical surroundings so seriously that wind energy projects in Denmark must be located in accordance with the Planning Act. Denmark is covered by land-use plans - regional, municipal and local plans - worked out and adopted by local governments, The plans are results from a process where the various sectorial interests are weighed together. Examples of conflicting and/or competing interests are: wind potential, economics in the power grid system, distance from habitation, telecommunication, aviation security, preservation of landscape and historic monuments, bird protection, forestry, and the nationally adopted aim to double areas covered with forest. The regional plans prepared by Denmark’s energy projects; together with guidelines form the basis for the municipal and local councils and the rural zone administration
14 county councils contain guidelines for the location of wind on nature protection and land use in general, regional plans planning and administration carried out by the 275 municipal by the counties.
The municipal plan can include the municipal council’s overall targets and desires related to wind power expansion and provide a more detailed basis for administering rural zone permits. The framework of the municipal plan specifies the framework for the local planning of large wind energy projects, including the location and number of wind turbines in each area and their height and appearance. Local plans are detailed plans for a smaller area that are binding on and create rights for property owners; this type of local plan establishes the final location and content of a specific wind energy project. Wind energy projects that do not comply with the provisions of the local plan contradict the plan and cannot be constructed legally. A local plan may determine where the individual wind turbines are to be located within the project area, a maximum or minimum height, how they must look and a minimum generating capacity for the wind turbines to be permitted. Nevertheless, a local plan cannot ensure action, such as by stipulating that the entire wind energy project must be completed by a certain time or that wind turbines that are not being used to generate electricity must be removed.
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The municipal council is obligated to prepare a local plan when major development projects are being planned. Based on previous practice, a local plan is obligatory when eight or more wind turbines are being erected. Specific circumstances can require the municipal council to prepare a local plan if fewer turbines are being erected. A wind park by definition is such a large development project that it always requires a local plan, but a wind cluster is more difficult to define in relation to the obligation to prepare a local plan, as the question of whether a local plan is obligatory depends on the specific assessment by the municipal council of the size of the group of wind turbines in relation to the surroundings and the existing environment. Nevertheless, the municipal council always has the right to prepare a local plan if it so desires. In addition, the municipal council may ban the establishment of situations, legally or in fact, that may be prevented by a local plan. For example, the municipal council may prevent land that the council wants to be used for wind energy projects from being used for purposes that exclude the land being used for this purpose later. Wind energy projects in the open country require a rural zone permit in accordance with the Planning Act unless the wind energy project is explicitly permitted and specified in a local plan produced in accordance with the Planning Act. This applies regardless of the size of the wind turbines. If the wind energy project is specified in a local plan that does not have this status, the municipal council is responsible for granting the rural zone permit. If a local plan has not been prepared, the county council is the authority responsible for permits. A rural zone permit is granted or denied based on a specific assessment of the application in relation to regional and municipal planning provisions and the other purposes of the provisions of the Planning Act related to rural zones. Numerous conditions may be required before a permit is granted, including the removal of wind turbines that are not being used. The replacement of an existing wind turbine thus requires a new rural zone permit based on the rules applying at the time the application is made, including the municipal planning related to wind energy projects. Regional and municipal plans must cover an 8 to 12 year time frame, and be revised every 4 years, Public participation is an important element in Danish land-use planning. According to the Planning Act the local governments must solicit ideas, proposals, etc. before they make their presentations for their land-use plan or revision thereof. Furthermore, their proposed plans must be submitted to public hearings during a period of not less than eight weeks. The intention of this public participation is to give the inhabitants an opportunity to influence local planning decisions as well as to secure local understanding and acceptance of the plans. The national government may intluence local land-use planning by issuing national planning directives to be followed by local governments, by information, or by publishing a number of planning examples on specific topics as, for example, the siting of wind turbines.
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OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES Danish planning legislation does not apply to offshore territories. Siting of offshore wind turbines is a centralized process.Permission to build wind turbines offshore is given by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and offshore wind turbines can be owned by the power companies exclusively. A Committee for Offshore Wind Turbines has been created to ensure the best possible start for the first offshore projects. The committee members represented ministries that are concerned with and thereby can be affected by the utilization of wind power offshore. Represented in the committee were the ministries of environment and energy, fishing, defence, transport, and industry. The commitee has assessed that it will be possible to locate offshore wind farms with a capacity of 7000 MW in Denmark, respecting the offshore interests as well as the coastal landscapes. Therefore the expansion with offshore wind turbines will have a very great importance in the comming action plan, Energy 21.
MEGA TURBINES Commerciel wind turbines of 1 - 2 MW (mega turbines) are expected in a few years. With a hob height of more than 65 metres and a total height of more than 100 metres, mega turbines can be located in areas with large technical installations such as power stations, incineration plants and harbour areas, where wind turbines not earlier have been appropriated. Moreover mega turbines will especially be fit for use in offshore wind farms. But in the open country the size and the rotating blades make mega turbines visible at a long distance and thereby intluence the surrounding landscape. This impact can be illustrated by comparing mega turbines with the other features of the open country, such as church steeples about 20 metres tall or trees, which seldom grow more than 10 metres tall in wind-swept areas. Therefore it is in consideration to decide, that mega turbines shah be treated as projects where the effects on the environment must be assessed by visualizing and descriptions of alternatives etc., before consent is given.
100 MW AGREEMENTS TWO 100 MW wind power programmes was launched in 1986 and in 1990 under agreements between the government and the power companies. According to the agreements the utilities should establish and run a number of wind power plants. The programmes was planned for completion by the end of 1990 and 1994. The 1986 agreement has been fulfilled, but fulfihnent of the 1990~agreement are delayed, due to resistance from local governments and inhabitants. The government has just ordered the power companies to fultil a new 200 MW wind power programme by the end of 1999. The expansion is assumed to take place in the open country. Besides it is assumed that the power companies shall start examinations for an expansion with offeshore wind turbines.
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INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE POSITIVE PLANNING FOR WIND TURBINES The decentralized planning process is considered to be the best way to promote local interest in wind turbines, and to ensure acceptance among the inhabitants and their politicians. Local detailed knowledge of the characteristics and possibilities of the area, considering landscape qualities, urban development strategy, recreational possibilities, etc. is an essential element in finding appropriate sitings. In order to ensure that local governments engage in land-use planning for wind turbine siting, a National Planning Directive issued, stating that the municipal cauncils must adopt and make public a plan proposal dealing with localisation of wind turbines by July 1995. The National Planning Directive contains no instructions for the contents of municipal plans, such as quotas for wind capacity or priorities of sectorial interests. It is considered important that the plans express local political decisions and are based on detailed local knowledge of the characteristics of the surroundings - landscapes, habitations, etc. To day 175 of the 275 municipals have adopted plans with localisation of wind turbines. For the other 100 municipals the planning is delayed or the municipals are typical town-municipals without appropriate areas for wind turbines. It is in consideration to issue a new National Planning Directive with order to the local governements to re-assess and keep the plans for wind turbines up to date every 4th ar.
Recommendations
to Local eovemments
The main intention in making recommendations to local governments is to present convincing arguments that it is possible to find sites for wind turbines with due consideration to landscape, living areas, and utility economy. Furthermore, it is stressed that land-use plans provide advantages to existing and potential wind turbine owners as well as to their neighbours: land-use plans indicate where erection of wind turbines can be expected, and they provide owners with security of investment. To support the local planning process the Ministry of Environment planning examples and methods for siting wind turbines.
and Energy has issued a set of
Wind Potential Land-use planning should ensure that wind turbines are sited in areas with good wind potentials. Wind maps on a scale of 1:200,000 are therefore at the disposal of local governments. It is recommended that areas with the best wind potential be reserved for those wind turbines of high capacity, preferably in parks and clusters. They should be secured against the possibility of future
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building construction in the vicinity. Wind turbines should be spaced at a distance of 6-8 times their rotor diameter.
Landscaue Wind should be integrated into the landscape with due consideration of the landscape characteristics and the interests of nature preservation. Groups of wind turbines disturb the landscape less than individual turbines scattered at random. It is important that the design of wind turbines tits in with the actual landscape, and that clusters or parks of wind turbines be arranged in simple geometrical patterns.
CONCLUSION It will be possible to site wind turbines in Denmark with a total capacity of 1500 MW. A further wind turbine expansion will supposedly not be possible ashore, but must take place offshore. Mega turbines will primarily be located offshore and in technical landscapes. Mega turbines will allso be located in the open country where it is possible to intergrate the turbines in the actual landscapes. Wind turbines should be sited in parks and clusters in order to secure a good economy in the power grid system as well as provide for a satisfactory integration in the landscape. Wind turbines in parks and clusters should be arranged in simple geometric patterns in harmony with the landscape. Public participation in the planning process is important to promote local acceptance of wind turbines. Therefore public hearings will allso be practised before siting with offshore wind turbines i the coastal zone.
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