Renewable energy is hot right now- between the coming U.S. mandates for increased clean energy production, the pact expected in November between the U.S. and China in regard to increasing clean energy, and the expected commitments at the coming Copenhagen summit, there is much being done and even more to come.
While some initiatives are being scrutinized for possible unintended side effects, like the energy used not being worth it for clean coal or the possibility of the Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' to grow dramatically due to federal biofuel mandate, there is little doubt that research and utilization of clean and renewable energy options will expand in the near future due both to innovation and necessity.
Denmark has something for international show-and-tell time that will blow you away- literally. It’s the world’s largest windfarm. Late last week Denmark inaugurated the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the world- It boasts 91 turbines and will generate enough electricity for 200,000 homes- not bad.
"Horns Rev 2 is an important step in our energy policy," said Lars Likke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, at the Esbjerg opening ceremony.
He continued: "It's our ambition that Denmark will be a green growth laboratory."
The ambition is well-timed, as leaders and policy-makers from around the world will be traveling to Europe to attend the U.N. meetings at Copenhagen, Denmark to work out the successor to the Kyoto Protocol- Denmark could very well be hosting the most important international climate strategy meeting that has ever happened. Unveiling the largest wind-farm in the world positions them not just as the host of the meeting but as a technological and theoretical leader.
The project required 18 months of construction, will create 209 megawatts of power and required a 3.5 Billion ($694 million) Danish crown investment.
London is on their heels, though, with plans to open the 630 megawatt London Array wind park at the Thames Estuary for the 2012 London Olympics.
Now this is the kind of energy race I like to see.
So who’s got the second-biggest offshore wind-farm right now in the world? Denmark as well. This new wind-farm (The Horns Rev 2) bests Denmark’s 166-MW Nysted.
The Horns Rev 2 wind farm has 13 rows of 7 turbines (91 total), and the farm boasts the first accommodation platform capable of housing up to 24 workers: essential, as the wind farm requires year-round staffing. These workers will be pioneer residents of the new energy era.
Overall, Denmark gets 20% of its energy from wind, something for the U.S. which has dramatically more offshore wind energy potential but far less utilization.
"Nobody can stop the growth of green energy," said Rasmussen.
Let’s hope not. While the U.S. is focusing on finding new places to drill and ways to burn coal in a cleaner way, countries like Denmark are blazing the new and sustainable path for energy- one that we would do well to watch and learn from.
I applaud this kind of innovation and wish, perhaps wistfully with the eyes of an environmental dreamer, that this story would get the kind of press that Kanye West got. Why aren’t the architects of this getting on Leno? For that matter, why aren’t the people pushing clean coal up there making apologies for interrupting renewable energy?

