Denmark is on course to wean itself off the use of fossil fuels by 2050, according to a senior adviser at the Danish Industry Association, Hans Peter Slente.
The Scandinavian country currently generates 40 percent of their total power output from wind, and is also targeting a rise in this total by 10 percent in the next ten years.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LtMVcthkeN9ma2tuSoLgXUA6ImMsIXYx”]Speaking to the host of the Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle in Denmark, Hans Peter Slente admitted that, whilst it was impossible to say for certain how they would achieve their plan, it remains their central focus.
He added that they were on the “right path” and aim to become one of the world leaders in the use of renewable energy.
“It’s 2050, so nobody knows exactly how to get there, but it’s an ambition which drives the current green transition of our country which is on the right path, and at the right pace towards the end goal in 2050. We’re not there yet and we have to invest time, effort and money into achieving it. But it’s a trend that many countries in the world have embarked on. We would like to be part of it and in certain aspects be a leader in certain technologies and certain solutions,” he said.
“Nobody knows exactly how we’ll achieve it. There might be fossil fuel involved in the future, but we need to develop renewables very fast and to be more efficient with the energy we use to achieve the end goal of fossil independence by 2050.”
Hans Peter Slente spoke to Bernard Avle who was in the country at the invitation of the Danish government with three other Ghanaian journalists, ahead of Danish Queen, Margrethe II’s visit to Ghana later in November.
The monarch, on her maiden trip to the West African nation, is expected to be accompanied by a large Danish business delegation within three focus sectors, namely food & agriculture, sustainability, maritime, infrastructure and railways.
Denmark has earned global repute for its environmentally-friendly policies which have helped it maintain a ‘green’ outlook despite its industrial prowess, something other countries have tried and failed to achieve.
Just under half of the country’s total electricity is generated from wind power, whilst the country also uses biofuels and biomass, something he describes as a crucial part of Denmark’s transition to a ‘green’ country.
“The trademark for Denmark might be the wind power as we see the windmills all over or many places in society. About 40% of the electricity generated and used in Denmark is from wind power. We’re aiming at 50% by 2020. Wind power is a very big factor, but also using biofuels, biomass from agriculture and forestry, municipal waste streams to put into furnaces, incinerate it and transform it into electricity and heat, which we also use a lot in Denmark. That is really a strong part of the great Danish green transition – the biomass we use is a big factor.”
He added that despite not being a tropical location, Denmark generates some amount of its electricity from solar power, and expects more growth in that area.
“We aren’t really sunny and hot as a country, but we have solar power in our energy mix. It’s not a big thing. We have solar for both electricity and heating, and though it’s less than 5%, we see that it’s growing and we expect it to grow even more.”
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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana