Denmark extends life of two of its oldest offshore wind farms – one by another 25 years

Less than a month after it approved a 10-year extension to the 23MW Samsø offshore wind farm, the Danish Energy Agency has granted extensions to two of the country’s oldest offshore wind farms for up to 25 years.

The extension granted to the Samsø offshore wind farm at the beginning of June was the first time that an older offshore wind farm had its operational lifespan extended in Denmark.

The two new project extensions have been granted to the 40 MW Middelgrunden offshore wind farm, which was originally granted an electricity production permit in 2000 and was at the time the biggest offshore wind project in the world.

It will now be allowed to operate for another 25 years, taking its total lifetime operations to 50 years. The 165.6 MW Nysted offshore wind farm, built in 2003, will receive a 10 year extension.

“It is positive that offshore wind turbines that are over 20 years old will have the opportunity to continue producing green electricity for many years to come,” said Stig Uffe Pedersen, deputy director general of the Danish Energy Agency.

“This is first and foremost beneficial for the green transition. But it is also sustainable from a resource perspective that the plant can continue to operate safely and responsibly for a longer period of time.”

The Middelgrunden offshore wind farm is owned by HOFOR and the Middelgrundens Vindmøllelaug and became one of the centrepieces of the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009. Located just off the coast of Copenhagen, Middelgrunden consists of 20 turbines and supplies power to the grid equivalent to the needs of around 20,000 households.

The Nysted offshore wind farm is owned by Ørsted, PensionDanmark, and Stadtwerke Lübeck, and consists of 70 turbines producing electricity equivalent to the needs of over 130,000 households.

The same cannot be said for one of Australia’s oldest wind farms, the 18.2 MW Codrington wind farm in Victoria, which was announced earlier this year to be nearing the end of its lifespan and is set to close in 2027. The Codrington wind farm will be dismantled using cranes, rather than explosives.