DONG Energy: Offshore Wind Power Will Match Fossil Fuels on Cost

DONG Energy said it believes that there will be a major breakthrough within the next decade where green energy becomes cheaper than black energy, if political leaders, the industry, regulators and investors provide a final push with the global climate agreement at COP21.

“If green energy is to become cheaper than fossil energy, CO2 emissions must be priced at a level that more fairly reflects the damage they inflict on the planet. If the price of CO2 increases to the levels expected when the EU emissions trading scheme was set up, the cost of electricity from fossil fuels will consequently increase to a level where it is feasible that offshore wind power in the foreseeable future will match fossil fuels on cost,” Henrik Poulsen, CEO of DONG Energy, said.

More than 180 nations and an estimated 40,000 advocates from around the world are meeting in Paris at COP21 to complete negotiations on a global climate agreement.

In these final days of negotiations, the Environment, Energy and Foreign Ministers have taken over from the delegates in order to make the necessary political decisions to reach an agreement. The 43-page text, which was sent on 5 December, includes compromise proposals on each main negotiating chapter. It is supplemented by five pages of “concept notes” to inform the Ministers of the debates which took place last week. “The wording is more concise, the number of options has been reduced. This new draft is a step towards the final compromise,” said COP21 President Laurent Fabius at a press briefing on Monday 7 December.

The agreement must be concluded by tomorrow (10 December), in order to carry out the final legal verifications and to translate it into the six official UN languages. The adoption of the agreement is scheduled to take place in the plenary session at 6 p.m. on Friday, 11 December.

Poulsen commented: “With a global climate agreement at COP21, I hope that the world’s political leaders will join us in making an effort to ensure that in the future, it will simply be too expensive to choose those energy technologies that pollute our environment. If political leaders, the industry, regulators and investors provide a final push, the world will see a major breakthrough within the next decade where green energy becomes cheaper than black energy.”

“As CEO of the world’s largest offshore wind power company, with operations in Denmark, the UK, Germany and – most recently – the United States, I lead a large organisation, working tirelessly to reduce the costs related to renewable energy, such as offshore wind power and bioenergy. We have a strategic goal of reducing the costs of offshore wind power by 35-40 per cent by 2020, and we are well on the way to achieving this,” Poulsen said.