Denmark needs turbine test center: PM

DENMARK - Denmark needs a national test center for wind turbines to ensure that the country stays in the forefront of green energy technology development, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said.

Plans for a facility to test giant wind turbines up to 250 meters 820 ft high have run into resistance from people living in the area of northwest Jutland where it would be established and from some environmental groups and opposition politicians.

We have a very strong industry for wind turbines in Denmark, which has created tens of thousands of jobs in this sector in a market where international competition has increased, Rasmussen told a news conference.

Denmark is a world leader in wind energy, with roughly a fifth of its electricity output coming from wind parks on and off shore, after having built up the industry since the 1970s.

It is also home to the worlds leading wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, and headquarters for the main wind turbine operations of the world No. 9 manufacturer, Germanys Siemens, according to fresh 2009 rankings.

New economies are entering and improving the market for green energy technology so for us to maintain our position as world leader in this area, we need to establish a socalled test center, Rasmussen said.

China became the biggest wind turbine market last year, accounting for more than a third of the worlds new capacity. Chinese manufacturers Sinovel, Goldwind and Dongfang, ranked No. 3, 5 and 7, according to BTM consultants.

The Danish governments draft proposal calls for a test area for seven 250meter turbines to be created in the municipality of Thisted near the windy Danish west coast in a corridor about one kilometer wide and 4 km long 0.6 x 2.5 miles.

The local council supports the plan, which involves clearing about 1,200 hectares 2,965 acres of forest that would be compensated for by conserving forest elsewhere.

The test center would be operated by the Technical University of Denmark, DTU, in close cooperation with industry.

The governments proposal next goes to parliament which could pass the legislation by the summer holidays.

The idea of a wind turbine test center, which could begin operating in early 2012, has fairly wide support among parties in parliament, but disagreement remains over where to put it.

We disagree with the government about the placement in the forest, said Claus Skovhus, spokesman for the Danish Society for Nature Conservation which has suggested alternative sites. We hope that they would place the test center on farmland.

The wind industry and DTU said the site is well chosen.

We are not talking about unspoiled nature, but nature that has been modified by man for many, many years and forests planted by man 100 years or so ago, said DTU Provost Knut Conradsen.

Denmark is a small country, and you cannot place wind turbines anywhere without getting some opposition to it, Conradsen said. I do not think it is possible to get a better place that this one.

Jan Hylleberg, chief executive of the Danish Wind Industry Association, said: We had looked for an area where we could put up 10 turbines, and we finally found this place where we could put up seven. He said that the center would help keep wind energy R&D activities and jobs in Denmark in the future.