By Anders Lorenzen

Kriegers Flak, the largest offshore wind farm in Scandinavia, has been opened by the Swedish energy giant Vattenfall.

The wind farm which is located in the Danish waters of the Baltic Sea, 15-40 kilometres off the Danish coast, consists of 72 offshore wind turbines and has a total generating capacity of 604 megawatts (MW). It will produce enough electricity equivalent to 600,000 Danish households. 

To understand the scale of the wind farm, it covers an area of 132 km2² and about 170 kilometres of underwater cables have been laid.

A significant increase in wind power capacity

Even though Denmark already generates a large share of its electricity by wind power the addition of Kriegers Flak means that Danish production of wind power significantly increases, adding 16 per cent to the country’s capacity.

Anna Borg, the CEO of Vattenfall, said about the huge milestone: “With today’s inauguration, we are taking one step closer towards our goal of enabling fossil-free living within one generation. Kriegers Flak stands as a strong contribution to the green transition, which is why we are proud that the wind farm is now ready to provide fossil-free power to Danish homes and industry”.

Completed despite the pandemic

The project has been some time in the making, as the construction of Kriegers Flak was decided by the Danish parliament in 2012. In May 2020 the first foundation was put in place, and at the beginning of this year, the first of the 72 wind turbines were installed. Since then, the remaining turbines have been continuously installed and put into operation.

Vattenfall hailed the project as a success, particularly as it was being completed during the various difficulties caused by the global pandemic, and they say that it has shown their determination to accelerate the move away from fossil fuels.

The completion of Kriegers Flak makes Vattenfall the largest provider of offshore wind in Denmark, as the company now provides more than half of the installed capacity.