Denmark's western electrical grid is part of the Synchronous grid of Continental Europe whereas the eastern part is connected to the Synchronous grid of Northern Europe via Sweden.
In 2022, Denmark produced 35 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, with renewable sources constituting 83.3% of the total electricity mix. Wind energy was the largest contributor at 54%, followed by bioenergy and waste at 23%, and solar energy at 6.3%. Coal accounted for 13% of electricity generation, while natural gas and oil combined for a smaller share of 3.8%.
Interconnectors to neighboring countries, in particular Norway which exports hydroelectricity, and Sweden which exports mostly hydroelectricity and nuclear electricity, provide extra power when electricity consumption exceeds generation. The combination of domestic wind power and Norwegian hydroelectricity provides a stable source of renewable, non-biomass electricity (which would be harder to achieve on wind power alone, without energy storage).
Denmark is a net importer of electricity. The flow of electricity between Denmark and the countries it has interconnectors with (Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK), and the direction of that flow, is highly variable and depends on current demand and current Danish wind power output.
Danish average consumption of electricity per person was 0.8 MWh less than EU 15 average in 2008. Denmark has average electricity costs (including costs for cleaner energy) in EU,Forbedring af den nationale elprisstatistik for erhverv page 7. Danish Energy Agency but general taxes increase the price to the highest in Europe .Electricity and natural gas price statistics EuroStat, May 2015. In 2015, supply security was over 99.99%, among the highest in the world.
The Danish electricity market is a part of the Nord Pool Spot power exchange.
Sources
Wind
Denmark invested in the wind power development in the 1970s and has had the highest wind share in the world ever since; wind produced the equivalent of 42% of Denmark's total electricity consumption in 2015. Danish consumption of wind turbine generated electricity is the highest in the world per person: 1,218 kWh in 2009. Denmark produced more wind power per person in Denmark in 2009 than either Spain or the UK produced nuclear power per person in their respective countries.
In 2022, Denmark led all International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries in wind energy utilization for electricity generation, holding a 54% share, notably above the IEA average of 13%. The country's dedication to wind power, coupled with the expansion of other renewable energies, significantly reduced the carbon intensity of its electricity production to 92 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour (g CO2/kWh).
Coal In 2022, Denmark generated 34 TWh of electricity with coal. Over the preceding decade, there was a significant change in the composition of its electricity generation, with the share of coal decreasing from 43% to 13%.
Natural gas Over the last twenty years, Denmark has seen a significant reduction in natural gas production, declining from 30% in 2005 to 13% in 2022. In parallel, the utilization of natural gas for electricity generation has dropped from 24% to 3%, and its contribution to the Total Energy Supply (TES) has decreased from 23% to 9%.
Oil In 2022, oil made up 37% of Denmark's TES, aligning with the International Energy Agency's (IEA) average of 35%. The share of oil in Denmark's energy supply has been consistent over the past decade. Although it represents a notable portion of the overall energy mix, oil's contribution to electricity generation has been minimal since 2005, contributing less than 0.9% to the country's total electricity production in 2022.
Gross electricity consumption & production in GWh with renewables share
Production Consumption Import-Export Fossil Nuclear RE Bio & Waste Wind Onshore Wind Offshore Total Wind % of Consumption Total RE % of Consumption Kg per MWh Produced 2005 36400 35130 1370 23526 0 3545 5236 1428 19% 29% 571 2006 45742 35974 -6934 33264 0 3514 4739 1368 17% 27% 619 2007 39371 36069 -955 26318 0 3506 5800 1370 20% 30% 588 2008 36723 36103 1454 24053 0 3592 5453 1524 19% 29% 572 2009 36482 34624 334 23892 0 3668 5046 1664 19% 30% 586 2010 38882 35483 -1135 24010 0 4780 5122 2686 22% 35% 542 2011 35040 34528 1318 18901 0 4527 6360 3405 28% 41% 498 2012 30689 34135 5214 14052 0 4583 6796 3472 30% 44% 458 2013 34823 34037 1081 16669 0 4631 6772 4351 33% 46% 452 2014 32161 33471 2855 12405 0 4519 7913 5165 39% 53% 391 2015 28931 33616 5912 8512 0 4436 9300 4833 42% 55% 335 2016 30199 33018 5057 10499 0 4885 8132 4650 39% 56% 368 2017 30662 33006 4563 7798 0 6071 9597 5180 45% 66% 285 Note 1: All numbers are gross which includes losses from transmission, distribution and self-consumption by fossil thermal plants making total production and consumption larger as well as making the non-thermal renewable share smaller, e.g. renewables production made up 49.2% of net generation during 2012.Note 2: Wind conditions fluctuate from year to year and changes to precipitation over Scandinavia significantly affects hydro production in Norway and Sweden which in turn affects imports and exports, e.g. 2006.Note 3: Photovoltaics first had a significant effect in 2012. Due to this electricity being seen by the grid as self-consumption it in part caused gross consumption to drop by 1% from 2011 to 2012.Note 4: Sources are from the publicly owned transmission grid authority Energinet.dk with their Environmental Reports 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2018 Energinet.dk Environmental Reporting
Consumption
According to Nordel annual statistics Denmark's total electricity consumption totaled 36,392 GWh in 2006. Consumption increased about 3% in the period from 2001 to 2006 (in the same time-frame Sweden saw a 3% reduction, Norway a 2% reduction and Finland a 10% increase).Capacity for Competition, Investing for an Efficient Nordic Electricity Market Report , The Nordic competition authorities 1/2007; Capacity and electricity consumption page 58
Danish consumption of wind-generated electricity topped the world per person: 1,218 kWh. The renewable electricity-sources may give some protection against high annual changes. Electricity consumption fell in Denmark only 4% in the Great Recession (while falling 7.1% in Sweden, 7.9% in Finland and 8.6% in the UK; in Iceland consumption fell only 0.9%). Danish average consumption of electricity per person was 0.8 MWh less than the EU 15 average of 7.4 MWh in 2008.Energy in Sweden, Facts and figures 2009 and 2010 2009 T25 and 2010 T49
In 2019, Danish industry paid around 8 eurocent/kWh for the electricity cost, less than the EU average of 12 c.Electricity prices%2C first semester of 2017-2019 In 2014, Danish industry paid around 32øre/kWh for the electricity cost, about EU average. Denmark has average electricity costs (including consumer-paid incentives (PSO); costs for cleaner energy) in EU,Forbedring af den nationale elprisstatistik for erhverv page 7. Danish Energy AgencyElectricity prices for industrial consumers Eurostat, October 2015Electricity prices (table) Eurostat, October 2015 but taxes increase the consumer price to the highest in EuropeElectricity price statistics EuroStat, November 2019. at around EUR 0.30/kWh.
PSO is used for wind, biomass, solar, and district heating; total PSO was DKK 5.8 billion in 2013, of which DKK 3.2 billion went to wind power."Fremskrivning af PSO-udgifter" page 6+17. Danish Energy Agency, 19 May 2014. Retrieved: 17 January 2015. In 2015, the cost of power was only 32% of the price, while PSO was 9%, and tolls and VAT the remaining 59%.Afgiftsstruktur gør el langt dyrere end olie CSR.dk, 29 February 2016
As new data centers come online, Energinet.dk expects consumption to increase by 3.8 TWh in 2023 and by 13 TWh in 2040, compared to 2015.
Due to exchange with other countries, Danish consumption of electricity is different from its production.Retningslinjer for udarbejdelsen af den generelle deklaration page 10. Energinet.dk, 31 May 2011 The Environment declaration shows how the physical power is composed of different fuel sources. The General Declaration differs due to trade with green certificates, and does not show actual composition.Generel deklaration 2014 DONG Energy, 2015 Due to more wind in Denmark and more precipitation in Norway and Sweden, Danish electricity went from 1,216 kg per household in 2014 to 808 kg in 2015 (182g/kWh in 2014). Energinet.dk. "emissionen per kWh el er reduceret fra 440 g/kWh i 2005 til 182 g/kWh i 2014" 58% came from wind, water and sun, 19% from coal&lignite, and 4% from nuclear."Rekord lav CO2-udledning fra elforbrug i 2015 " Energinet.dk, 1 March 2015.
In 2022, Denmark produced 35 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity and consumed 32 TWh. The industrial sector was the largest electricity consumer, at 36% of total consumption, followed closely by residential buildings at 31%, and the services sector buildings at 30%. The transport sector had the smallest share, at 2.9%.
+ 2014 composition of fuel for electricity consumptionincluding losses and district heating Coal&lignite Nuclear Natural gas Wind, hydro, solar Biomass&waste Oil Environment declaration 30% 3% 7% 47% 13% 0%
Production
Mode of production The total installed power capacity was 12.5 GW in 2001 and in the end of 2006 12.7 GW including 9.5 GW from natural gas, coal and oil and 3.1 GW wind power. Denmark has almost no hydropower,Shahan, Zachary. Denmark Aiming for 100% Renewable Energy by 2050 CleanTechnica, 28 November 2011. Accessed: 29 November 2011. and no pumped storage.Versorgung, Umwandlung, Verbrauch – Elektrizität – jährliche Daten (nrg_105a), Zeitreihe Nettoerzeugung der Pumpspeicherkraftwerke von hauptsächlich als Energieerzeuger tätigen Unternehmen (INDIC_NRG 16_107136). Eurostat, 2017. Retrieved February 2017. Denmark had the 6th best energy security in the world in 2014, although this includes non-electrical energy."Global Rankings", Accessed: 24 January 2016. Denmark has 1250 MW of methane-fueled distributed power plants supplying district heating. Their electricity production decreased to a third during the ten years from 2010 to 2019, but power capacity remained the same. Current power system data are provided by Energinet.dk and EMD.
Power stations
Producers Main power producing companies operating in the Danish market are Ørsted A/S and Vattenfall. The current market structure was designed in 2003–2006 by a number of mergers and transactions. In January 2003, Ørsted (then called DONG Energy) acquires a 64% share in the regional power company EnergiGruppen Jylland, which owned 3.1% of the electricity producer Elsam. At the same year Elsam acquired 78.8% of retail sales operator NESA and later took a full control of the company. At the same time, NESA owned 36% in other electricity producer Energy E2. In 2004, EnergiGruppen Jylland increased its stake in Elsam to 24% and on 10 December 2004 Ørsted and Elsam announce announced their planned merger. Ørsted increased its stake in Elsam to 64.7% while Swedish power producer Vattenfall had acquired a blocking stake of 35.3%.