Denmark will delay by at least three more years construction of a planned North Sea energy island to supply renewable power to three million European households, a government minister said on Wednesday, citing rising costs and high interest rates.
The projected investment exceeds 200 billion Danish crowns ($29.81 billion) and would require about 50 billion crowns in state support, Energy Minister Lars Aagaard told Reuters. He declined to say how much the cost had increased from original projections.
Just over a year ago, Denmark announced a previous delay, citing cost, of the artificial island that is designed as a hub for collecting and distributing power generated by surrounding offshore wind turbines.
Initially, it was planned as a Danish-Belgian project.
Aagaard said that was no longer viable following increases in raw materials prices and in interest rates, but it could be redesigned to include power cables linked to Germany, adding the earliest completion date was 2036 from a previous estimate of 2033.
"The prerequisite was that it could be established without subsidies and that there would be a positive gain for both Belgium and Denmark, and reality has developed in such a way that we can no longer see such a case," Aagaard said.
Efforts to get Belgium to pay a bigger share were unsuccessful, Aaagaard said adding he hoped Germany would participate in the financing.
Germany's economy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Long a champion of renewable energy, Denmark, is home to industry leaders Vestas, a turbine maker, and Orsted, a turbine operator.
The sector has come under pressure from rising costs and supply chain disruption.
($1 = 6.7102 Danish crowns)
(Reuters - Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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