Denmark has the world’s best energy system
For three years in a row, Denmark has topped the World Energy Trilemma Index published by the World Energy Council. The index rewards Denmark for top energy security measured by effective management of the energy supply, the reliability of energy and the ability to meet current and future demands.
According to the index, energy security is among the main challenges in Europe, which makes Denmark stand out from the average European country. The Danish energy system performs exceptionally well with a 99.99% uptime and the Danes on average only live without electricity 20 minutes pr. year. This is a European record.
For decades, Denmark has aimed to create the world’s best energy system. Our high level of energy security is due to the extensive undergrounding of low and medium voltage power lines, which makes the Danish power grid robust for example during storms. Ambitious and sustainable energy policies matters a great deal, however, continued strengthening of interconnections to our neighbouring countries also play a significant role.
Preparing for the future
Managing Director of Danish Energy Association, Lars Aagaard, is proud of the repeated international recognition, but emphasises the need to constantly adapt to current and future challenges.
We must not rest on our laurels. An extensive electrification and digitalisation of our society wait ahead. Our aim to have one million electric cars 12 years from now, increase our amount of heat pumps and even more sustainable energy, demands that we strengthen both our electricity grid and support flexibility for consumers.
New Danish 2030-energy agreement
In June this year, the Danish government signed an energy agreement with the unanimous support of all parties in the Danish parliament, strengthening Danish energy and climate goals leading up to 2030. The agreement includes initiatives such as immediate relaxation of electricity and electric heating taxes and the allocation of EUR 564 million to a tender process, where different technologies can compete on delivering green electricity at the lowest price.Already, Denmark has highly competitive prices on electricity and with the gradual phase out of the Danish green energy tax (the PSO tax), the cost of energy will be reduced even further to around 5 euro cent per kWh or less in 2021 according to the large renewable energy company, Ørsted.
about The Energy Trilemma Index
The World Energy Council’s Energy Trilemma Index ranks 125 countries according to their ability to provide sustainable energy on three dimensions: security, equity (accessibility and affordability) and environmental sustainability.The ranking measures overall performance in achieving a sustainable mix of policies and the balanced score highlights how well a country manages the trade-offs of the trilemma with "A" being the best.