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Home Latest Wind Energy News Denmarks largest offshore wind farm approved

The Danish parliament approved the construction of the country's largest offshore wind farm on Tuesday. The park will be built in the Kattegat Strait. The park's planned capacity if 400 megawatts. An electricity generator this size is able of supplying 400,000 homes with electricity, following calculations of the Danish Climate and Energy Ministry. The size of the turbines is yet to be determined, but most likely between 100 and 175 turbines will be installed in the water of northern Jutland.

'I'm very happy all parties supported the energy agreement and the location of the wind turbines. It's important that a broad majority support energy policies, because there's no doubt that this is an enormous task for Denmark,' commented climate minister Connie Hedegaard.

The acting director of the Danish Wind Industry Association (DWIA), Jakob Lau Holst, mentioned that this is an important step towards achieving the European Commission's goal of generating 30 percent of electricity from wind energy by 2020. 'At the same time it's also important we don't rest on our laurels. We need to continuously build at sea and on land over the coming years to reach the goal and to send an international message that we are serious about reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,' according to Holst.

The latest figures from the Wind Industry Association reveal that Denmark currently has 5267 turbines. Almost 70 percent  of these turbines are located on Jutland. Wind energy has long been an important source of electricity in Denmark. Most wind capacity is still onshore, but offshore wind farms generated 22 percent of Danish wind energy in 2006.