Denmark to prioritise access to strained power grid

COPENHAGEN: Denmark will establish a hierarchy of priorities for access to its severely strained power grid, placing connections for new data centres last, the government announced on Monday.

“Historically, Denmark has had plenty of grid capacity. That is no longer the case,” the climate, energy and utilities ministry said.

“In several areas, capacity is close to full use and demand for grid connections is growing faster than the planned expansion can keep up with,” it added.

Public gas and electricity grid operator Energinet said in March it would wait three months before making any decisions on connecting new projects.

It said demand far exceeded the available capacity in the short term.

Pending projects amounted to 60 gigawatts for a system designed for 7.0 gigawatts at peak times, according to the operator.

There is “broad support” for “an emergency plan that ensures that the available capacity is used for what matters most to Denmark”, energy minister Samira Nawa said.

“Ordinary households, the healthcare system, defence, transport, heating supply, businesses and renewable energy must not be pushed to the back of the queue while very large and inflexible projects take up the limited capacity,” Nawa added.

The new centre-left government will table a bill to parliament after the summer recess, proposing to prioritise access according to four categories.

The first will cover “protected needs and essential functions for society”.

The lowest-priority category will comprise “certain large energy consumers”, which several prominent figures in the governing majority have identified as large data centres.

The aim is to apply these rules “as soon as the next round of processing for large-scale grid connection applications, scheduled for the autumn”, the ministry said.

In parallel, the authorities will launch negotiations on speeding up the development of the power grid and drafting a comprehensive energy infrastructure plan from now until 2035.

Industry group Dansk Industri responded by saying the “emergency plan addresses an immediate challenge but does not sufficiently tackle how the capacity issue will be resolved in the longer term”.