Denmark Plans to Wean Itself Off Natural Gas by 2030

To move away from Russian fossil fuel imports, Denmark plans a drastic expansion of wind and solar energy. At the same time it will also boost domestic production of gas, despite previous plans to halt it entirely.

Denmark must be completely self-sufficient for natural gas by 2030, the government has announced.

Around 400,000 households in Denmark are currently heated by natural gas, according to the government.

Roll-out of district heating and heat pumps will be intensified as part of the the new energy initiative “Denmark can do more II”, which aims to make the country non-reliant on Russian gas imports.

“When Denmark becomes greener, we create security and safety. When we get greener, we weaken Putin. And when we become greener, we slow down the climate changes that are destroying our planet”, Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced, as quoted by Danish Radio.

In addition to faster replacement of private gas and oil boilers, the plan also includes more room for “green” electricity and increased production of of biogas. But the government also plans a temporary increase in production from North Sea gas fields, which Denmark previously pledged to move away from.

“We do this with open eyes”, Frederiksen added. “Until the production of biogas – that is, green gas – is large enough to cover the need for gas, then it is our clear belief that it is better to pick up gas from the North Sea than to buy it from Putin”, she said.

Under a previous agreement, oil and gas extraction from the North Sea must stop by 2050. The PM vowed that that commitment would stand.

To accelerate the “Green switch”, the government unveiled plans to quadruple output from solar cells and wind turbines on land by 2030. Offshore wind generation will also increase thanks to the construction of more 'energy islands'.

But the offshore wind farms and large energy islands previously planned will not be enough to cover the growing need in the coming decade, as more Danes are expected to swap their petrol and diesel cars for electric ones and scrap gas and oil boilers.

The Social Democrats' fellow left-wing allies, while backing the thrust of the new policy, attacked the government for not going far enough.

“It is not ambitious enough to become independent of natural gas by 2030. We both can and must become independent by the end of 2027”, Socialist People's Party head Pia Olsen Dyhr said.

The Red-Green Alliance voiced its concern about plans to increase gas output from the North Sea, albeit temporarily.

The party's spokeswoman Mai Villadsen said that even the conflict in Ukraine should not mean green ambitions being thrown overboard.

“And I'm afraid that we will do so if we want to extract more fossil gas in the midst of a climate crisis”, Villadsen added.

Following Russia's special operation to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, the European Commission voiced plans for the entire bloc to become fully independent of all Russian fossil fuels “well before 2030”, raising doubt over their feasibility.

Some EU economic heavyweights, including Germany, are heavily dependent on Russian gas for heating and industrial needs. As one of the first steps, Germany put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on ice and pledged to move away from Russian gas, prompting dire forecasts from industry leaders.