By Sofie Hviid

In a green hoodie and a summer hat made of reeds, Henning Davidsen could easily look like one of the many tourists who flock to Hvide Sande every summer. On this day, when we meet him at Hvide Sande Fjernvarme, he is not at work either. After 43 years as chairman of the district heating plant, he retired earlier this year to slow down a bit.

He invites us into the meeting room, where there is a view of sand and marsh straw swaying in the wind, and then fetches home-made coffee from the kitchen. The district heating plant is located in an industrial area close to the harbour, and from some of the building's rooms you have a view of the city's three wind turbines. These are the ones we are going to hear about today. The history of Hvide Sande's mills is indeed something special, because the mills acquired a completely unique meaning for the citizens of the town. They became, some would say, the city's salvation.

Earlier this year, Dansk Fjernvarme called him to ask for a favor. They wanted him to tell the other members how they managed to get massive citizen support to put up three wind turbines on the beach. Henning Davidsen wonders why it took so long before they called. The mills started turning already in 2011, and since then he has previously given presentations in Germany and Ireland and had visitors from Japan.

For Henning Davidsen, the story of the mills in Hvide Sande is very simple.

"It's about the turbines being for everyone's good. It's the simplest thing in the whole world and obviously logical," he explains with a West Jutland dialect that wraps itself around everything he says.

At a time when the establishment of new wind turbines on land has almost come to a standstill, while the government simultaneously wants to increase the number of wind turbines, the focus has come on the local resistance that many wind turbine projects face. Some believe that the problem is the citizens, who do not want the turbines standing in the backyard, while others point out that if you involve the citizens and offer them co-ownership, then the opposition will be reduced or disappear completely.

An endangered port

At the harbor in Hvide Sande there is something to look at even on a Monday morning in August. The harbor is a short walk from the district heating plant, and we go there because the harbor is the whole reason why the wind turbines are there today. A handful of larger fishing vessels are moored and the crew are walking or sitting around the ships.

The harbor is the city's pulsating heart, and the city has grown through fishing. The first fishermen found their way here almost 100 years ago, and with the establishment of the port, the town really grew in the 1940s with residential areas, shops and a school. Today, few large ships have taken over the space from the small fishing cutters. The fishery not only employs the fishermen, but provides work for the blacksmiths, the electricians, the merchant and factories that refine and process fish.

All that was threatened when the ships back in the zeros began to opt out of Hvide Sande, because the harbor was simply too small for the large vessels. Instead, the ships sailed on to Hanstholm and Thyborøn, and it was a disaster for Hvide Sande. The price for an expansion was DKK 145 million, an amount far in excess of what the port itself could raise. In those years, Henning Davidsen was director of rental at the local tourist association. For him, it was absolutely crucial that the port's life was preserved - not just for the sake of fishing.

"That you can sit on the bulwark at the harbor with a drink in hand or an ice cream and swing your legs while you look at all the activity that takes place around and on the ships, that's worth its weight in gold. All that must not die, because then our tourism dies too.”

He was born and raised in the area, his father was a manager in the municipality, and his brother was for many years director of the port. The locals call him HD, and you never see him without a hat on top of his short white hair. Henning was originally trained as a radio-television mechanic and ran a local business in the city for 15 years.

Hvide Sande is almost as far from Christiansborg as you can get, and the citizens are used to having to fend for themselves. Henning Davidsen believes that it is deep in their DNA that you don't take a no for a no - and the belief that you can make things happen yourself is a strong local self-understanding.

Therefore, it was only natural for him to pick up the phone and call the mayor after Hvide Sande became part of Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality. Although Henning Davidsen and most others in Hvide Sande had wanted it differently, he nevertheless gave the mayor a call to say that now they had to make the best of it and enter positively into the collaboration. And it must be said that he has lived up to that ever since.

When the new municipality came up with their bid for where wind turbines could be established on the municipality's land, Henning Davidsen got an idea that could potentially help save the city's life. The port could not establish wind turbines itself, because it was not possible with the Port Act at the time. But if the tourist association set up a fund that could operate the turbines, the fund could rent from the port, and the rental income could then help finance the expansion.

Three locals were against it

When the project had to be presented to the locals, 300 people turned up in the local hall to hear about the plans. Here, Henning Davidsen was in charge of the presentation and led those present through the wind turbine location, the finances of the project and the structure of the ownership. When Connie Hedegaard was climate and energy minister from 2004-2007, she got a bill passed that meant that anyone who wanted to set up a turbine had to make 20 percent of the investment and co-ownership available to the people who live around the turbine. Therefore, a local mill guild was established and shares were offered to the local residents. Henning Davidsen became chairman of both the foundation and the mill guild.

At the citizens' meeting, he remembers that there were three people who expressed their opposition to the wind turbines. One was a summer house owner, the second was from the house closest to the mills, and the third protest came from a local volunteer in Denmark's Nature Conservation Association. Of course, they were all allowed to air their concerns, but only one of them became a problem for the project.

"A protest came to the Nature and Environment Complaints Board, and that really put us under pressure," he says.

The complaint was about to tear the foundation away during the entire project. They had signed a contract with Vestas based on a plan that the turbines could be in operation by 31 December 2011 at the latest. If the turbines had not started turning at that time, they could not use the current subsidy scheme, on which the project's finances depended. Henning Davidsen was frustrated that it was the protest that was supposed to put a damper on the project.

"The windmills were supposed to be on the beach, which is not a bathing beach, but a commercial area. It's the harbor area and they can build anything down there. There is neither a beach protection line nor a conservation area. Then I think it's just protesting for the sake of protesting.”

The complaint was rejected at the last minute, and Henning Davidsen could breathe a sigh of relief - for a short while.

An autumn storm threatened to send the project to sea. One November day in 2011, less than two months before the turbines were to be in operation, a storm was forecast. For the locals in Hvide Sande, a storm is not just about tying down the garden trampoline and taking in the garden furniture. The North Sea was biting, and Henning Davidsen could see that the large turbine blades were in danger. The manufacturer Vestas had placed the wings at the beach too close to the sea.

Even if Vestas itself had to compensate for the loss, if the blades ended up drifting offshore, it would mean that the wind turbine project would be delayed.

“That night I did not sleep. I called people all around the fjord and ordered rubber goats to come and drive sand to the front of the wings. Drive sand to, drive sand to. They came from all sorts of places. They drove all night. And the wings, they stayed.”

Everyone benefits

The three V112 turbines can be seen on the horizon in most places in Hvide Sande. They are currently operated by Hvide Sande Fjernvarme. The district heating company pays more than DKK 4 million annually. DKK in ground rent for Hvide Sande Havn. The lease with Hvide Sande Havn runs for 30 years, and all in all, Hvide Sande Havn has been able to take out a loan of DKK 80 million. DKK, which with the rent can be compounded and repaid over 25 years. This has meant that the port thus had funds for the expansion that was crucial for the future of the port and the local community. The mills have financed DKK 80 million. DKK out of the total investment of DKK 148 million. kroner, which a harbor extension and pier construction has cost.

The port expansion was completed in 2013 and has meant a new south pier of 700 meters and an extended north pier. At the same time, the water depth has been increased to six meters so that larger ships can enter. The harbor is built according to the needs of the offshore wind industry, which can have a major impact on Hvide Sande's economy.

Today, citizens no longer have co-ownership. In 2018, electricity prices fell so much that unit owners became nervous about their investment. Henning Davidsen began investigating whether Hvide Sande Fjernvarme could take over the turbines. Here they met the challenge of having to pay the transport price to the local energy grid for the electricity, and this was such a large part of the income that the economy no longer held together. Therefore, they looked for a solution where they could lay cables between the district heating and the turbines, which are a kilometer apart, so that they could avoid the transport costs.

Although they were told it was not possible, Henning Davidsen did not give up. An adviser with experience from the Danish Energy Agency helped them find a way through the bureaucracy. There was an exception to the rule if the producer, i.e. the mill, and the place of consumption were on the same register. With that knowledge, they worked out a solution, where the port bought a small area from the municipality. Then the port also bought part of Hvide Sande Fjernvarme's land, and thus they could document being on the same cadastral register.

District heating today uses electricity directly in an electric boiler and from 2020 also in heat pumps. That solution, together with an investment in a solar collector system, means that Hvide Sande Fjernvarme has reduced CO2 emissions by 94 percent. The locals can look forward to having the country's cheapest district heating.

Henning is still a volunteer in the local tourist association, but is otherwise slowing down a bit. Something his wife has been looking forward to after many years of having a husband who spent day and night on his work and commitment to the city. He is still surprised that there are not more people who have done as in Hvide Sande, where the economic benefits of the wind turbines benefit the locals.

“You get a completely different relationship with the mills. It's so human and that's the heart of it all. The fact that people could see that the wind turbines were for our local area, namely the port, and not just for an outside company. Many in Hvide Sande have also got jobs in the wind turbine industry," he says and continues:

"Later, the residents also got full value for money when it came to the energy bill. Last year they paid DKK 1.800 to heat a house of 130 m2. And this year, everyone will not have to pay the 4th installment of the heating bill, because it is going so well. It's simple psychology.” 

Henning Davidsen's advice to other local communities

Get together and see if you can establish wind turbines yourself, or buy shares in the turbines that are planned. The more you own and the more that goes to your own local community, the more acceptance there is.

Facts about Hvide Sande's wind turbines

The turbines produce up to 15.000 MW per turbine per year in a normal wind year. 

The project cost DKK 100 million and was commissioned on 30 December 2011.

Hvide Sande Fjernvarme's wind turbines supply a 10 MW electric boiler and a 4,65 MW heat pump built in 2020. Together with an investment in a 9.576 m2 solar heating plant in 2014, this means that the heating plant has reduced CO2 emissions by 95 percent in eight years. Before, the heating plant used natural gas.

In 2020, Hvide Sande Fjernvarme could manage to generate 92,4 percent of the heat from renewable green energy. That means on wind, solar and heat pumps. The remaining 7,6 percent is natural gas. So when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, their natural gas boiler runs. They do not use chips, wood pellets and straw and have never done so because, according to Henning Davidsen, it did not make sense in that area (there are no trees and only mare straw in the area).

A total of 96 percent of the residents in Hvide Sande are connected to district heating. There live approx. 3000 inhabitants.

Hvide Sande Fjernvarme owns the cable that runs from the three wind turbines on the beach to the heating plant one kilometer away, and is therefore exempt from paying transport costs. 

The project has received the Danish Wind Turbine Association's Windmill Prize in 2013 and the European Solar Prize in 2013.

Sofie Hviid is a journalist and part of the journalist community Klimajournalisterne.

This article is part of our series about people who take the initiative themselves to establish wind turbines, solar cell systems and other green conversion projects in their local area.