I was born and raised in a detached house in East Jutland near a heavily trafficked country road, where we could smell the stench of dead animals and slaughterhouse waste when the wind came from the west. We thought it was progress and didn't complain too much. Maybe we should. But someone who is really complaining is Jyllands-Posten, which in recent weeks has run a massive campaign against solar cells in Denmark. "Wild plan will plaster Jutland with solar cells", "Jernmarker makes Jutland darker" and "enormous areas must be covered by solar cells", are some of the bombastic headlines. Even Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has been quoted as saying that it does not "look particularly cool" to live on a property that is surrounded by solar cells.

Maybe not. In recent years, the growth in solar cells has been great, and it is easy to zoom in on them when they stand in long rows on a bare field. But isn't there much else in the landscape that is a greater challenge in terms of area, aesthetics and in relation to nature? When will JP zoom onto the wide asphalt motorways that cut Jutland lengthwise and soon also through Egholm's beautiful natural area west of Aalborg? The next thing could be the Kattegat connection over Samsø and the scenic Røsnæs. When will JP go nuts on the large slurry tanks, grain silos and the pig factories - or the many biogas plants that take over 3 billion DKK. per year in state aid? Or the large industrial parks, the car parks, the many cars in the cities and the (black) paved country roads and motorways?

"In recent years, the growth in solar cells has been great, and it is easy to zoom in on them when they stand in long rows on a bare field. But isn't there much else in the landscape that is a greater challenge in terms of area, aesthetics and in relation to nature? When will JP zoom onto the wide asphalt motorways that cut Jutland lengthwise and soon also through Egholm's beautiful natural area west of Aalborg?"

From the aesthetic angle that JP pursues in the solar series, surely this is next? But do you dare?
How about instead seeing the solar cells as part of a green progress that can make Denmark self-sufficient with cheaper green energy, free us from authoritarian oil powers and strengthen our competitiveness?

Solar cells can help nature

Solar systems, if set up correctly, can protect drinking water areas threatened by pesticides. They transform the sun's rays into clean energy and can free us from fossil fuels, which pollute the air and which are behind 68 per cent. of gross energy consumption in the Danish economy. With wind turbines, batteries, heat pumps and geothermal energy, the solar cells can pave the way for a 100 per cent renewable energy system. Far-sighted Judaeans have understood that it is a better business than the fossils.

Take e.g. for Hvide Sande district heating, which in the middle of an energy crisis could cut half the heating bill because they had invested in time in large Vestas wind turbines, solar cells, heat pumps and electric boilers, which are cheaper in the long run than burning with fossil fuels or wood biomass. It was economic and energy-wise common sense. And Hvide Sande made its solid contribution to reducing Denmark's emission of greenhouse gases. Imagine if all district heating plants and municipalities followed in their footsteps?

An alternative green energy plan

A total climate and energy plan of the Green Transition Denmark shows that it is realistic and possible to make Denmark a 100 per cent fossil-free economy in 2040. However, this will require the amount of solar and wind energy to be increased by 4,3 times in 2030 and by nine times in 2040. In relation to the government's climate projection, we can save DKK 207 million. tonnes of CO2e on the way there, and this can ensure consumers and companies 35-45 per cent. lower electricity prices in 2040, show calculations made by Ea Energianalyse.
It will strengthen Denmark's competitiveness, because the price of energy is important for whether you succeed or fail on the world market. In recent years, the installation of new wind turbines has unfortunately stalled on land and at sea, and there are too many bureaucratic stumbling blocks in Denmark. So it is tiresome to see a business newspaper plastering its pages with aesthetic anger against solar panels and energy parks.

We should rather demand more green energy parks both west and east of the Great Belt, so that the entire country's energy consumption can be made fossil-free. And new jobs can be created by producing the next generation of green e-fuels for our international shipping and aviation. It is bad for Denmark if we allow ourselves to be torn down by an aesthetic pursuit, regardless of whether it is in Viby or the Town Hall Square. It is a serious problem that the Danish economy is burning DKK 120 million. barrels of oil per year, and that the Danes buy new gas boilers and fossil-fuel cars when there are good green and electric alternatives. There are many jobs in the green transition – there are only in the wind industry 33.000 jobs, and most are located in Jutland.

By comparison, there are only approximately 7100 full-time farmers left. They get over 11,8 billion DKK. in state aid per year, while the solar cells can manage on market terms. Farmers are in a good position 60 per cent. of the country's 4,3 million hectares, and they have bet hard on industrialization and large-scale farming, so that the rural areas have become more and more depopulated. At the same time, the industry has shared a great deal of responsibility in relation to the climate, pollution of the drinking water, the biodiversity crisis and the widespread death at sea. And they don't want to pay for the pollution themselves, but would rather wipe it off on the taxpayers.
Denmark finds itself in a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis and is a bottom-scraper in the EU with only 1,6 points protected nature. So I understand the concern about what nature will look like in the future. But how about having a serious conversation about the large-scale animal food production and the new infrastructure projects rather than shaming the solar cells and wind turbines as scapegoats?

The solar cells will take up less than a fifth of the country's roads

Even if we increase the amount of solar energy by 11 times towards 2040, the solar cells will not cover more than 1 per cent. of Denmark. Many more can be put on roofs, over car parks and motorways, but the cheapest is setting up on bare ground. It must be possible to free up 1 per cent, because it is basically about Denmark's future energy independence and competitiveness. And yes, far more forests should also be planted, which can give us greater nature experiences, a richer flora and fauna and an additional climate benefit. Instead of complaining about the solar cells, you can be happy that they can earn extra money and benefit nature on run-down fields that have previously been sprayed with pesticides and fertilized with nitrogen, so that nature's flowers, the field's birds and the many insects disappeared . The developers can probably be persuaded to share a bit of the profits with the local community, and the legislators can give local energy communities better opportunities to flourish.

"Instead of complaining about the solar cells, you can be happy that they can earn extra money and benefit nature on run-down fields that have previously been sprayed with pesticides and fertilized with nitrogen, so nature's flowers, the field's birds and the many insects disappeared.”

Why should we waste so much time complaining about the green progress that has many benefits and delaying it again and again while the Chinese drive us into the middle of the new energy revolution, where the prices of green electricity from solar and wind are already is cheaper than fossil energy? Enter the Jyllands-Posten match. Today, the industry and the industrial zones fill a little less 1 per cent. of the area. The production of biofuels, which is uneconomical and stupid in relation to the climate, takes up a land area corresponding to 3 per cent. of Denmark. And the roads are full 5,4 points of the area or 232.000 hectares.

Most of us Danes would like to make room for the roads in the countryside and enjoy the freedom of driving. But that freedom has a price. Either we find a little more space for solar cells and wind turbines in Denmark, so that we can electrify the heat supply and industry, and run on clean green electricity that we produce ourselves. Or we must continue to import polluting fossil fuels from Russia and the Middle East every year, which will impose very large geopolitical, security policy and climate extra bills.
Of course, there are dilemmas in relation to the distribution of land, but it is high time that we have a serious conversation about what kind of progress we want in this country.

This is a chronicle written by RGO's director, Bjarke Møller, and it was published in Western-Posten on 22 October 2024.