The Danish government, recently, has approved a plan to build an artificial island in the North Sea as part of its effort to switch to green energy. 

The project is being called the largest construction project to be undertaken in Denmark’s history with an estimated cost of DKK 210 billion.

What is an energy island?

An energy island is based on a platform that serves as a hub for electricity generation from surrounding offshore wind farms.

• The proposed artificial island, will be located about 80 km into the North Sea and the majority of it will be owned by the Danish government.
• Its primary purpose is to provide large-scale offshore wind power.

Artificial energy island project: 

The idea behind this artificial energy island project, is to connect and distribute power between Denmark and neighbouring countries. 

• Denmark has already entered into agreements with the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to begin the joint analysis of connections in the energy island.

Background:

In June 2020, the Danish Parliament decided to initiate the construction of two energy islands, which will export power to mainland Denmark and neighbouring countries. 

• One of these islands will be located in the North Sea and 
• The second island, called the island of Bornholm, will be located in the Baltic Sea.

The construction of both islands is expected to be complete by 2030.

The move has come after the EU announced its plans to transform its electricity system to rely mostly on renewables within a decade and to increase its offshore wind energy capacity by over 25-fold by the year 2050.

Significance:

Estimates suggest that it will be able to store and produce enough green energy to cover the electricity requirements of over 3 million households in the European Union (EU).

Source: Indian express