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Investment Strategy

Offshore renewables will generate 47,000 new jobs

If the right investments are made, Denmark could create 47,000 new jobs over the next decade, a new report from the Alliance for Offshore Renewables points out.

Today, Danish companies account for approximately 90 per cent of the world market for offshore wind turbines, and Danish undertakings have been involved in the establishment of all existing offshore wind farms in the world.

”Nobody else can match our knowledge and experience, and the market is growing exponentially. However, we are also witnessing other countries – led by England, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany – investing heavily in offshore renewables. If we are to stand a chance of preserving just a part of our market share, Denmark must make further investments in research, innovation, testing and demonstration facilities, infrastructure, and education,” says Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Chairman of the Alliance for Offshore Renewables and a former Danish PM. ”If we hesitate, our neighbours will be the ones to benefit from both growth and new jobs.”

In its investment strategy, the Alliance recommends:

1. The Danish parliament should follow the recommendations contained in the report of the Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy and increase the energy production resulting from offshore wind by 18,500 MW up to 2050. Moreover, a well-defined political framework is crucial in order to secure imperative, long-term, private investments from pension funds, among others.
2. Denmark must secure an expansion of the electricity grid in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea which would connect the surrounding countries and secure sufficient capacity. It will not be possible to connect offshore energy parks in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea until the electricity grid is future-proof. And that would require North European investments of 20-30 billion euros up to 2030.
3. Research, innovation, demonstration, and testing are crucial for the growth within the renewables sector. Consequently, Denmark must increase its investment from approximately 1 billion kroner in 2010 to 4 billion kroner a year in 2020. And these funds must be matched by a 50 per cent private co-financing effort.
4. Massive investments are required in the education of qualified manpower for the offshore sector: Before 2020, approximately 16 billion kroner must be invested in the education of 20,000 engineers within the industry.

The Alliance for Offshore Renewables:

The Alliance will in the coming months focus on a utilisation of the Investment Strategy, with a special focus on how to finance the strategy as this is crucial to the fulfillment of the goals set.

Investment Strategy (in danish)

(Download it as PDF file)

Investment Strategy – Summary in english

(Download it as PDF file)

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