Danish offshore wind project cancelled after area redesignated as bird sanctuary

Danish renewable energy developer European Energy has cancelled plans to develop an offshore wind farm due to the planned project area being redesignated as a natural bird sanctuary.

European Energy vice president and head of offshore wind, Andreas Karhula Lauridsen, posted on LinkedIn on Monday that the company “has decided to drop plans to establish our coastal offshore wind project Omø Syd in Smålandsfarvandet.”

Smålandsfarvandet is a small body of water in Denmark that connects Storebælt in the west with Storstrømmen and Guldborgsund in the east, serving as a waterway for coastal traffic, yachts, and other small craft.

European Energy had been developing the 320MW Omø Syd – named for the nearby island of Omø and ‘Syd’, which is Danish for south – for 10 years, and had already obtained its environmental impact assessment (EIA) from the Danish Energy Agency in 2020.

According to Andreas Karhula Lauridsen, the Danish government has recently announced that they plan to designate the same area as a Natura 2000 bird sanctuary.

Efforts have been made to square the circle and allow development to continue, but Andreas Karhula Lauridsen explained that “authorities and politicians have not had much interest in this.”

The Danish Energy Agency has suspended processing of 33 open-door offshore wind projects – including Omø Syd – until further clarification was issued under EU law.

European Energy is nevertheless continuing work on other offshore wind farms, including two projects being jointly developed with TotalEnergies.

The two companies announced last week that they would undertake development of 405MW of offshore wind in Denmark – including the 240MW Jammerland Bugt offshore wind project and the 165MW Lillebaelt South nearshore wind project.

TotalEnergies and European Energy have also partnered to jointly develop and operate new large-scale offshore wind projects in Sweden and Finland, and to bid for upcoming offshore wind tenders in Denmark.

“We are delighted to expand our collaboration with European Energy,” said Vincent Stoquart, senior vice president of Renewables at TotalEnergies.

“These new offshore wind projects in Denmark are aligned with our strategy of developing renewable projects in merchant countries at competitive cost.

“This partnership will allow TotalEnergies to take advantage of European Energy’s longstanding presence in northern Europe to expand its business there.”