There is a need to utilize the Danish area better than we do today. Although the goal of quadrupling renewable energy on land only requires more 0,8 percent of Denmark's area, there must be areas with the right weather conditions, good location in relation to the electricity grid and neighbors and in close cooperation with the farmers who often own the land. Therefore, we must get better at using our scarce area smartly and with more options in a multi-functional use. The rules today are an expression of a silo division, where forest and lowland projects are thought of separately from renewable energy. This makes it difficult to combine solar cells with low-lying soils and wind turbines in the forests. We can get much more out of Denmark's area if we wave goodbye to silo thinking.

The government has plans for Danish land

With the government's ambitions about 250.000 hectares of forest, an ambition to remove 100.000 hectares low-lying soils as well as a desire for groundwater parks and strengthened biodiversity, we need to be able to use our area wisely and efficiently. By creating coexistence in our use of the land, the bees can in certain cases live together with the solar cells, and forestry can continue, at the same time as the wind turbines spin above the treetops. We therefore support the call from the national energy crisis staff Nekst, set up by Lars Aagaard (M), to plan after multifunctional land use to make all considerations go up. It cannot be done everywhere and will only be possible if both the installer of green energy, the local area and the lot owner agree. But there is greater potential than we are exploiting today.

One example is that funds set aside for the extraction of low-lying soils, through the Climate-Low-lying scheme, exclude the possibility of establishing renewable energy on extracted areas, which constitutes a barrier to double climate benefits. According to section 11 of the Forestry Act, wind turbines may not be erected on areas with permanent forestry. If both an installer, the municipality and the neighbors want to place wind turbines in a forest, this cannot be done without a special dispensation. This is excluded approximately 15 percent of the Danish area from the installation of green electricity. On the other side of Øresund, on the other hand, it can be done.

Sweden inspires

In the project Grevekulla in a forest near Vimmerby in southern Sweden, European Energy has placed six wind turbines that are 200 meters high and which annually produce green electricity equivalent to the consumption of as many as 25.000 Swedish homes. The location of the turbines means that they do not have a negative impact on forestry. In order to use our land as wisely as possible and promote renewable energy on land, we recommend:

• Let's ensure synergies in funds given to low-lying soils. We support the Nekst recommendations, that the Climate Lowland Scheme must be able to support lowland soils with low natural value, which at the same time provide green power. Renewable energy projects should also be able to be realized at the same time that the land is taken.
• In line with Nekst recommendations, a general exception should be established in the Forest Act so that wind turbines can be set up in forests with low biodiversity. As wind turbines have become taller, they can be combined with forestry to a greater extent. This must of course be done with respect for natural values ​​and specially protected nature, for example Natura 2000. If the forest owner, neighbors and installer want it, it must be possible to allow the installation of wind turbines in the forest.
• When a new forest is to be erected, the wind turbines should be able to be erected while the forest grows up. Faster reforestation in Denmark is an important climate and environmental measure. Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke (S) must pave the way for the government's ambitious target of 250.000 hectares of new forest in the forest plan. The forest plan should allow for the installation of wind turbines in the case of new afforestation, where it makes sense. Climate forests can thus become twice as efficient, so that they both reduce emissions through green electricity and absorb CO2 through the trees.

Two months have passed since the Nekst working group gave recommendations to speed up the deployment of renewable energy in Denmark. The call to Christiansborg must therefore be: Break down the silos and listen to the recommendations, so that we can combine ambitions for more green energy with more forests and reclaimed low-lying land.

Senders

Jens Dahlstrøm Iversen, senior advisor, Green Transition Denmark

Camilla Holbech, head of department, Green Power Denmark

Flemming Nør-Pedersen, Director, Agriculture & Food

Ulrich Bang, Deputy Director, Danish Business

Anders Frandsen, director, Danish Forest Association

Morten Dyrholm, Deputy Director, Vestas

Ulf Lund, director, Norlys

Anders Dolmer, CEO, BeGreen

Joachim Steenstrup, CEO, Eurowind Energy

Thomas Beck Sørensen, Director of Communications, European Energy

Andreas Nøhr Vestergaard, specialist, Momentum Energy Group

Jakob Bundgaard, CEO, NRGI

This debate paper has been brought to the Alting on 2 May 2024.