50Hertz and Energinet have joined forces to fully harvest the offshore wind potential held in the Baltic Sea, power the green transition in Germany and Denmark, and spearhead a new idea for connecting offshore wind farms across borders: the Bornholm Energy Island (BEI) project. This innovative and visionary project will connect multiple wind farms together via a single hub and transport the green electricity that they generate to consumers in both countries while providing transmission capacity for cross-border trading.
The green future of offshore wind hubs and hybrid connections
BORNHOLM ENERGY ISLAND
VISION & TECHNICAL FEATURES
Together, 50Hertz and Energinet want to establish a power hub on the island of Bornholm that is able to provide electricity to consumers in either country, depending on the market and demand in Germany, Denmark and Europe more widely. Electricity generated by the wind farms located off the coast of the island will be centralised at this hub and then converted into high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and transported via 525 kV HVDC sea and land cable systems to onshore substations in Zealand (in Denmark) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (in Germany). In addition, the BEI project will enable the local community on the island to be connected to both Zealand and continental Europe.
Cooperation between countries is the way forward
50Hertz and Energinet are pioneering innovators. BEI will pave the way to a future in which offshore wind energy is no longer harvested by individual countries alone. Instead, in line with the offshore wind potential held by different countries and electricity demand in these, two or more countries will cooperate to efficiently integrate the green electricity generated by offshore wind farms into their energy systems.
We at 50Hertz and Energinet hold a significant amount of expertise in feeding electricity from offshore wind farms into our power grids. The Kriegers Flak - Combined Grid Solution (KF CGS), our joint project which has been fully operational since 2021, laid the foundations for making hybrid interconnectors a reality in both the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. We will continue to use our know-how to implement ever-evolving, more complex and more efficient on- and offshore energy hubs.
NEWS & EVENTS
Agreement on Bornholm Energy Island project for future offshore undertakings
At the North Sea Summit in Hamburg, Denmark and Germany reached an agreement on Bornholm Energy Island, including the allocation of costs related to offshore wind. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen presented the funding framework negotiated between the two countries for the future offshore undertakings within the project. The agreement on the wind farms for the Bornholm Energy Island project marks the decisive building block for the realisation of this particular German-Danish infrastructure undertaking.
Thomas Egebo, CEO of Energinet: “The agreement is an important step in translating political ambitions into concrete projects and establishing clear frameworks for large-scale energy infrastructure projects. Energinet and 50Hertz have a long-standing cross-border cooperation. Together, we have, among other things, delivered the world’s first hybrid interconnector, Kriegers Flak, in the Baltic Sea. We will bring these experiences into the continued work on Bornholm Energy Island and the integration of offshore wind into the power system.”
Stefan Kapferer, CEO of 50Hertz: “The agreement between Germany and Denmark has an impact on the offshore industry across Europe, extending far beyond the Baltic Sea project Bornholm Energy Island. It is furthermore a strong european signal in geopolitically difficult times. Both countries are breaking new regulatory ground and are therefore pioneering the way forward. 50Hertz and Energinet will jointly contribute their expertise and experience and, as those responsible for the electricity hub on Bornholm and for the direct current connections to Denmark and Germany, will play their part in the success of the project overall.”
In the picture: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen together with Denmark's Energy and Climate Protection Minister Lars Aargard, Energinet CEO Thomas Egebo, EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, 50Hertz CEO Stefan Kapferer and State Secretary Frank Wetzel (f.l.t.r). Photo: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung.
Energinet is an independent public enterprise owned by the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities. Energinet owns, operates and develops the transmission systems for electricity and gas in Denmark. Energinet’s purpose is to own, operate and develop the overall energy infrastructure and manage related tasks, thus contributing to the development of a climate-neutral energy supply.
50Hertz operates the electricity transmission system in the north and east of Germany, which it expands as needed for the energy transition. Within these regions, 50Hertz and its around 2,100 employees ensure that 18 million people are supplied with electricity around the clock. 50Hertz is a forerunner in the field of secure integration of renewable energy. In our grid area, we want to integrate 100 percent renewable energies securely into the grid and system by 2032 - calculated over the year. The shareholders of 50Hertz are the Belgian holding Elia Group (80 percent), which is listed on the stock exchange, and the KfW bank group with 20 percent.