It will be a large offshore wind farm, to be built off the Danish coast. One of the largest in the world: 800 megawatts of installed capacity. The news comes directly from the Danish government, which has decided to build the facility approximately 50 kilometres from the coast, installing between 50 and 75 turbines – 250 metres tall – capable, once in place, of producing enough energy to power at least seven Danish cities.

"It is a very large wind farm. It will play a key role in achieving the government's goal of producing half of total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030," said Christian Lilleholt, Denmark's Minister for Energy.

A record-breaking wind farm

Before "the first stone" is laid, however, we will have to wait until at least 2021, the year in which construction of the wind farm is expected to begin. In this case, the project should not require any public support, other than the laying of cables and connection to the grid.

To date, the largest wind farm, at least as far as Denmark is concerned, is Kriegers Flak, a facility currently under construction with around 600 megawatts of capacity. But when it comes to records, there are quite different figures to bear in mind: the London Array, for example, located off the mouth of the Thames in the United Kingdom, comprises 175 turbines with an installed capacity of 1 gigawatt. It is again neighbouring England that holds the record, in this case for a facility still under construction: Hornsea Two, which will be built approximately 89 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast and, once completed, will deliver 1.8 GW of power, equivalent to the needs of 1.6 million households.

2017: a year to remember for wind energy

After the dip in 2016, last year marked yet another record in Denmark for wind energy: 44 per cent of electricity came from wind. Output totalled around 14,700 GWh, generated by approximately 6,100 installed turbines.

In a statement released at the start of the year, the Minister for Energy confirmed, on the strength of these figures, that: "Denmark plants a green flag on the world map, demonstrating once again to the whole world that our country has the best energy system in the world."