ABSTRACT
The Danish government has decided to increase the wind energy supply from 600 MW in 1997 to 5,500 MW in year 2030. The main part of the development is expected to derive from off-shore wind farms. Experiences from two small off-shore wind farms of five MW each have given promising results both concerning technical equipment, production, and economy. Large-scaled wind farms of several hundred MW are planned and will during erection be divided into sections of 100 MW which can be handled independant of each other. The development will be followed by base-line and impact assessment studies on the environment and can be suspended or even stopped if the impact is too serious. Furthermore, improved technology implies that turbines without noticeable extra costs can be placed at water depths of 15-20m contrary to today, where the maximum depth is 10m. This opens possibilities for including of new waters where the risk for impacting the environment is smaller.
