For every time a municipality plans 15 megawatts of solar, only one megawatt of wind is planned. This is shown by a report from the Danish Energy Agency, which FemernBusiness has obtained access to.
The figures cover renewable energy projects where a local plan has already been adopted, but where the facilities have not yet been constructed or connected to the grid. It is therefore not an expression of what has been built - but of what the municipalities have actually given the green light to, and what is currently under planning, if it is realised. By the end of the first quarter of 2025, there were local plans nationwide for 5,451 megawatts of solar panels and just 360 megawatts of new onshore wind.
The report includes 78 projects spread across the country. 69 of them are solar panel installations. Only nine are about wind. This imbalance is also reflected locally. In 2024, not a single wind turbine was erected in Lolland Municipality, Guldborgsund Municipality, or Vordingborg Municipality. This picture continues in the planning for 2025. In the three municipalities, a total of 1,034 megawatts of solar energy and 0 megawatts of wind are planned. Solar thus dominates everything - and wind is completely absent in local planning. Lolland Municipality, Guldborgsund Municipality, and Vordingborg Municipality together have eight active solar panel projects with approved local plans.
Three municipalities in the top 10
The three municipalities are collectively in the top ten nationwide, measured by the amount of planned renewable energy capacity. Therefore, it is remarkable that wind is not included in the expansion at all.
Professor Brian Vad Mathiesen from the Department of Sustainability and Planning at Aalborg University calls the development both skewed and risky.
- It is the perception in many municipal councils that solar panels are easier and less troublesome than wind turbines. That is not my impression at all. It is more about how the municipal council is inclined and how the local processes have taken place. There is a difference between wind and solar, and there is a need for wind turbines on land. They produce more evenly throughout the year and more in winter when the need is also greater, he says.
Risk of imbalance
He believes that the current planning risks creating an imbalance in electricity production. Solar and wind cannot replace each other. They must complement each other if the grid and supply security are to hold together.
At the same time, he questions how much of the planned capacity will actually come to fruition.
Municipalities with most planned RE
Lolland Municipality - 644.6 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality - 523.3 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Jammerbugt Municipality - 261.9 MW solar / 64.0 MW wind
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Rebild Municipality - 312.0 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Sorø Municipality - 280.9 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Guldborgsund Municipality - 217.5 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Holbæk Municipality - 189.4 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Vordingborg Municipality - 172.0 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Brønderslev Municipality - 111.5 MW solar / 0 MW wind
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Thisted Municipality - 94.6 MW solar / 0 MW wind
Source: Danish Energy Agency, access to records of adopted local plans for renewable energy, 1st quarter 2025.
- In the short term, there is no need for 5.4 gigawatts of solar panels. Developers must investigate the economics themselves, but up to 2030, I think at most 2 gigawatts are economically sustainable. But it is important that municipalities think further ahead towards 2045. Therefore, it is good that planning is done with future possibilities in mind, he says.
No majority in the city council
In Guldborgsund Municipality, there are no wind turbine projects underway, and no new turbines were erected in 2024.
Mayor Simon Hansen (S) confirms that wind is politically parked:
- There is no majority for it in the city council.
He also points to the pace of grid connection as a barrier:
- Projects from the last city council period are not yet completed, and therefore I do not foresee us starting more until we begin to see the projects being connected to the grid.
Whether the economy holds and is sustainable is not within the scope of what a local plan should address, explains Simon Hansen.
- Whether a project is economically sustainable is not something we should address when we make local plans. We should focus on creating a local plan that enables the project for which a landowner or investor has submitted an application, he says.
A local example of the uncertainty is Agerup Energy Park in Guldborgsund Municipality. The project was originally launched as a combined solar and wind park, but the wind turbines have since been removed, the area has been reduced, and a local plan has not yet been adopted.
