Danish minister to stop solar support scheme after 4.5 GW of surprise applications

Danish energy minister Lars Lilleholt wants to urgently close a support scheme for solar installations, after it received applications for over 4 GW in April.

In a statement today the minister said the huge and unexpected interest in the so-called 60/40 solar scheme, reaching about 4.5 GW, would result in a significant rise in the cost to Danish electricity consumers. A bill introduced by Lilleholt aims to stop immediately the support mechanism for future applications and exclude all current applications that have not yet been approved for support.

Denmark has about 790 MW of installed solar power generation capacity. Energinet.dk recently said the total may grow to 7.5 GW by 2040, thanks to an expected rise in residential deployment.

The 60/40 scheme offers solar power producers a fixed power purchase price of DKK 0.60 (USD 0.094/EUR 0.081) per kWh for 10 years and then DKK 0.40/kWh for another 10 years. This compares to a power price of some DKK 0.18/kWh at present. The premium for solar power is paid through the Public Service Obligation (PSO).

To be sure that such situations do not repeat in the future, Lilleholt plans to undertake a review of Denmark’s support programmes for renewables and the application processes.

(DKK 10 = USD 1.559/EUR 1.344)

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