“We’re making history:” Ørsted shuts last coal-fired heat and power plant

Danish clean energy giant Ørsted has shuttered its last coal-fired combined heat and power plant, the Esbjerg Power Station, located in the Western part of Denmark.

Once known as DONG Energy, a gas and oil resource company that expanded into the electricity market, the company adopted the name Ørsted in 2017 and has since grown to become one of the world’s leading clean energy companies.

Having developed a sizeable portion of the world’s offshore wind capacity (excluding mainland China), Ørsted generates most of its energy from renewable energy sources and has targeted net zero generation by 2025 and net zero emissions by 2040.

As part of this long-term transition, Ørsted announced last week that it was shutting down the 378MW Esbjerg Power Station, one of the last steps in the company’s efforts to completely phase out the use of coal.

Danish authorities had ordered Ørsted in 2022 to continue and resume operations at three of its power station units – unit 3 at Esbjerg Power Station and unit 4 at Studstrup Power Station, which both use coal as their primary source of fuel, and unit 21 at Kyndby Peak Load Plant, which uses oil as fuel. Both unit 4 at Studstrup and unit 21 at Kyndby had been decommissioned and preserved.

However, Ørsted has now closed all three units, though coal will still be used as a reserve fuel at Studstrup Power Station’s unit 3 while a large wood pellet silo is being rebuilt after a fire. Ørsted expects to get the silo ready again before the end of 2024, after which the company will no longer either have or use coal as a reserve fuel.

“Shutting down the last of our coal-fired heat and power plants marks the end of a chapter in our green transformation,” said Ole Thomsen, senior vice president and head of Ørsted’s Bioenergy business.

“For many years, Esbjerg Power Station has been a very important contributor to the Danish energy system, delivering electricity and stability to the power grid and district heating to the municipality of Esbjerg.

“The Danish authorities ordered us to continue operations at Esbjerg Power Station until 31 August to ensure the security of the electricity supply. Naturally, we complied with the order, but we believe that we, as a society, must phase out the use of gas, oil, and coal as soon as possible, and with the close down of the heat and power plant, we’re well on track to becoming the first major energy company to completely transform its energy production from fossil fuels to renewable energy.”

Yearly consumption of coal at the Esbjerg Power Station had measured in at approximately 500,000 tonnes – equivalent to around 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Shuttering the Esbjerg Power Station is the last major step on Ørsted’s path to meeting its target of a 99 per cent green share of energy generation by 2025.

Ørsted has already reduced its scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity by 92 per cent between 2006 and 2023 and was the world’s first energy company to implement a science-based net-zero target. Closing the Esbjerg Power Station is the last step in this science-based target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 98 per cent by 2025.