Renewable energy companies and investors from Denmark are exploring opportunities in Western Australia, paving the way for the industry to benefit from Denmark’s green expertise.
CCIWA recently hosted a roundtable featuring the Danish Ambassador to Australia, Pernille Dahler Kardel, alongside several Danish renewable energy companies and investors. The event also included CCIWA Members from energy, mining, infrastructure, and primary industries.
In July, CCIWA facilitated this roundtable to discuss trade and investment opportunities between WA and Denmark, with participation from key stakeholders across various sectors.
The roundtable focused on three primary objectives:
- Understanding the dynamics and opportunities within the WA economy while connecting the Danish delegation with key stakeholders to foster collaboration in greening these industries.
- Showcasing the diversity of investment-ready projects across the State through the WA Investments* website, encouraging Danish investment.
- Promoting WA as an ideal base for Danish companies looking to access Asian markets and potentially leverage Australia’s free trade agreements.
“Denmark’s renewable energy industry is much more mature than ours, and our industry can learn from their experience to adopt and adapt it to suit our landscape,” said Michael Carter, Head of CCIWA’s International Trade and Investment Centre.
“Similarly, we have some exciting green energy investment-ready projects listed on WA Investments—a dedicated investment portal developed through a collaboration between CCIWA and Invest and Trade Western Australia.”
In 2023, Denmark was ranked second globally for energy system performance, according to the World Economic Forum, while Australia was ranked 24th.
Denmark’s renewable energy sector, particularly in wind energy, is well-established. Kardel said that this development was driven by necessity when the 1972 oil crisis highlighted the need for energy independence.
“Visionary people took that as an opportunity to develop green energy sources, wind in particular,” she said.
The industry’s growth was supported by “attractive and dependable long-term support mechanisms, innovation support, and a political willingness to invest in emerging power solutions based on future market expectations”.
Western Australia’s appeal to Denmark
Kardel emphasised Denmark’s interest in developing its renewable industry in WA, citing the region’s “abundance of resources, like-minded business environment, and can-do attitude”.
“Denmark and Danish industry [are] looking to deploy our renewable solutions abroad, support green transition and create future jobs,” she says.
“In WA, we [can] learn from the giga-scale and momentum of especially the hydrogen strategy, and how WA is laying the tracks to put this enormous undertaking into movement.”
Denmark-based renewable energy projects developer Copenhagen Energy and consultant Lautec attended the roundtable, both expressing strong interest in working closely with WA.
Copenhagen Energy currently has four WA offshore projects in development and recently opened a Perth office. Lautec has established a presence in Melbourne.
Copenhagen Energy’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Midwest Offshore Wind, is one such project aiming to provide green electricity to WA homes and businesses.
“WA has a fantastic wind resource and this is what currently makes it attractive to offshore wind developers,” says Satya Tanner, Lautec Director and CEO – Australia.
“However, as consultants with expertise in offshore wind energy, our clients’ ability to build bankable projects depends on a number of factors, from good policy setting that gives certainty to investors and a clear route to market, through to a reliable and affordable supply chain.”
Joy Francis-Hayes, Copenhagen Energy Development Manager – Australia, says WA is well-positioned to play a significant role in global decarbonisation.
“Firstly, through the electrification of the grid and industry and then through the export of clean energy to other regions and countries that don’t have the abundant renewable resources that we [WA] have,” she says.
Conversely, Kardel highlighted that WA could also benefit from Denmark’s renewable energy expertise.
“Our developers and their investors, as well as original equipment suppliers and general supply chain, [are] well-adjusted to managing complexity, giga-scale, technology risk while attracting investors [and] making collaborations between the states a straight-forward opportunity,” she says.
“We believe the change is now inevitable, and as countries and continents are positioning [themselves] into the change of the energy-mix, Australia has a real chance at making itself be in front of yet another industry revolution.”
Denmark’s learnings from developing green energy projects
Copenhagen Energy, which has projects in Denmark, Australia, The Philippines, Italy, and Ireland, has faced several challenges, including navigating complex regulations, disruptions in global supply chains, and finding skilled workers in a tight labor market.
“To overcome these challenges, we engage with key groups early, develop strong relationships, maintain transparent communication and proactively address concerns early,” says Francis-Hayes.
“Looking for local solutions is also key as it leverages local skills, knowledge, expertise and established supply chains. It also helps to build advocacy and support for the projects, which is essential when establishing a brand-new industry in an emerging market.”
The primary challenge for Lautec was establishing a viable market to operate in.
“Danish authorities, and following on from that, other European countries, took a step-wise approach in building the market,” Tanner says.
“They began by giving the industry support, primarily in the form of feed-in tariffs and then adjusting that approach to result in the energy auctions that we see today. Good policy, rather than technology, is what drove the Danish success story with offshore wind.
“In a similar way, WA needs to form a strong alliance with the other Australian states to have a strategic and coordinated approach in what has become an intensely competitive global market.”
Overcoming barriers to drive investment
To realise investment opportunities, Kardel emphasised the importance of de-risking investment.
“Once the investors and developers can begin to see certainty, they will attract the supply chain. There is a critical path at play, requiring WA to attract enough investment to ensure scale and supply chain certainty for the industry to obtain a critical mass,” she says.
For businesses aiming to make their services and products more appealing to Danish markets and investors, Kardel encourages them to utilise the Danish Trade Council to engage with Danish businesses.
Francis-Hayes added that Copenhagen Energy considers several factors when developing projects to assess the viability of the project and location.
“These include resource quality, financial viability, regulatory and permitting systems, grid connection opportunities, supply chain, local expertise and capability, environmental factors, social impacts and other users of the area,” she says.
“We also conduct a full risk and mitigation assessment to develop an understanding of the potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.”