Furthermore, Denmark has—as of 2022—the 2nd highest amount in the world of wind power generation capacity installed per capita, behind only neighboring Sweden.

[12] Danish inventor Poul la Cour experimented, taught and constructed wind power projects around the year 1900.

[13][14] As concerns over global warming grew in the 1980s, Denmark found itself with relatively high carbon dioxide emissions per capita, primarily due to the coal-fired electrical power plants that had become the norm after the 1973 and 1979 energy crises.

The Danish system was an exception, providing 30% of initial capital cost in the early years which was gradually reduced to zero, but still maintaining a feed-in tariff.

[16] The capital cost subsidy was reduced to 20% in June 1985, when wind turbines received DKK 50 million per year.

[18] On 29 March 1985, one year before the Chernobyl disaster, the Danes passed a law forbidding the construction of nuclear power plants.

The strategy formulates policy projects that are intended to accelerate the expansion of wind power and restructure the electricity market.

Such subsidies as compensation schemes for residents living near onshore windmills lost relevance and the offshore area was taken into focus.

[27][21] Ever since the first energy agreement with outstanding consensus in parliament in 2008, Denmark grew their wind power share in domestic electricity production from 19% to 55% in 2019.

Onshore wind resources are highest in the western part of the country, and on the eastern islands with coastlines facing south or west.

Wind is higher in autumn and winter and lower in summer, and Denmark also has about 2.3 GW of solar power.

[50] At the end of 2015[update], Denmark's total nameplate capacity for wind power stood at 5,070 MW.

[57] Kriegers Flak is also used to connect Denmark and Germany with a 400MW cable, through the German Baltic 2 Offshore Wind Farm,[25] and Energinet ordered electrical equipment in early 2016.

[5][80][needs update][81] The 1,000 MW Thor offshore wind (a $2.5 billion project scheduled for 2027 in the North Sea) was agreed in December 2021.

5 of 6 bidders bid the same price of 0.01 øre/kWh, and drew lots to find the winner (RWE) for a Contract for difference,[79] which included connection costs and a potential DKK 2.8 billion (€377m) payment to the state.

[87][88][89] Vattenfall bid the lowest price for the 350 MW nearshore farms at 47,5 øre/kWh in September 2016,[90] but the political situation was unclear.

[94] The proportion of this that is actually consumed in Denmark has been disputed, as the larger hydropower resources of Norway (and to some extent, Sweden) is used as grid storage with low loss.

[95] This service of timeshifting production and consumption is also found around the world in pumped-storage hydroelectricity balancing coal and nuclear plants.

[101] The 24-hour period of 2 September 2015 was the first occasion when most electricity came from wind, and no central power plants were running in West Denmark, while grid stability was maintained by compensators.

According to the second argument, the correlation between exports and wind power is weak, and a similar correlation exists with conventional thermal plants running partly for district heating; meanwhile, causal analysis shows that export from Denmark typically occurs as a consequence of the merit order effect, when large thermal plants have reserve capacities at times the spot market price of electricity is high.

[citation needed] Around 90% of the national output is exported, and Danish companies accounted for 38% of the world turbine market in 2003, when the industry employed some 20,000 people and had a turnover of around 3 billion euro.

Limited production turbines (four Siemens 7MW with 66kV cabling) are to be supported at Nissum Bredning at a cost of DKK 300m, partially financed by local people.

[125] Actual consumer-paid incentives (PSO) to new wind turbines depend on year of commission, but is generally around 25 øre (3.4 eurocent) per kWh for a limited number of hours, although support is discounted if combined price exceeds 58 øre/kWh.

[82] Wind power displaces coal, oil and gas to some degree, reducing running cost for fossil fuels.

The resulting report states that Danes pay the highest residential electricity rates in the European Union (mostly for government revenue, but partly to subsidise wind power), and that the cost of saving a ton of carbon dioxide between 2001 and 2008 has averaged 647 DKK (€87, US$124).

[129] The Danish engineering magazine Ingeniøren claimed that the report was ordered and paid for by the American oil and coal lobby through IER.

[130] Later, several Danish researchers and professors from all technical universities in Denmark wrote a joint response to the report, refuting it.

[133] The World Nuclear Association estimates that the report was IER's response to US president Obama's 2009 Earth Day speech in Newton, Iowa, claiming that the United States could generate 20% of its electricity from wind by 2030, as Denmark already was.

Together with other renewable energy measures, this community of 4,200 achieved fame,[139] claiming that it is the largest carbon neutral settlement on the planet.

[140] This claim exploits the general understanding that one can neglect carbon-dioxide and other pollution from fossil fuel consumption (cars, imported electricity, heating for houses, etc.