The Danish Minister for Climate and Energy recently shared his ambitions for creating a smart grid throughout Europe within the next 5-10 years and stated in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that it is not possible to transform into a green energy system without a more integrated energy market. The minister has therefore invited Germany, Poland, Great Britain and France among others to initiate discussions on accelerating this process.

The director of the Danish Energy Industries Federation, Hans Peter Slente, is pleased with the minister’s message and points out that a more integrated electricity network and well connected grid across the EU is a necessary precondition for the optimal energy supply as well as the integration of large quantities of renewable energy.

It would also secure a more stabile energy supply when distributing the wind energy resources from the North Sea-region to the rest of Europe and likewise with the fast-growing solar energy supply in Central and Southern Europe.

As a strong supporter of clean energy, Denmark has an explicit interest in the creation of a smart grid that would also increase the incentive for further investments in renewable energy throughout Europe. Denmark is also one of the countries that already has vast experience with many of the solutions of smart grid and Hans Peter Slente is therefore not surprised that this initiative has been brought up by the Danish minister.

“Denmark is the leading country within smart grid development – both nationally where much progress has been made for example with distribution of intelligent electricity meters, electric cars and intelligent market design, but also internationally where Denmark has valuable experiences with integration of energy supply with our closest neighbors, primarily the Scandinavian countries Norway, Sweden and to some extent Germany,” Hans Peter Slente stated and added that a closer integration of regulation will be necessary in addition to the technical implementation.