Bornholm could become the world's hub for energy islands
The National Centre for Green Energy has been established by the Ministry of Business Affairs to create growth through innovations within green energy, and the location on Bornholm could be a benefit for local businesses.
The National Centre for Green Energy was recently designated by the government as a business lighthouse to catalyse growth within green energy. The centre was launched in March, and with its location on Bornholm, it can, in addition to researchers, attract international companies that want to be at the absolute forefront in the field of sustainable energy sources.
– Bornholm can become the world's hub for green energy. The place to go if you are involved in the development and construction of energy islands, which is very high on the international agenda at the moment, says Caroline White, a trained engineer who works as a project manager at the National Centre for Green Energy. She says that a special effort will be made this year regarding cooperation with local businesses. After all, the National Centre for Green Energy is not only a vision for an innovation mecca that will continue far into the future, but also a concrete project running until June 2023, which has received 27.2 million from the Danish Board of Business Development for activities to develop solutions within green energy in cooperation with the island's companies.
– We are going to establish a company that will consist of Bornholm Regional Municipality, some of the major industrial partners such as Ørsted and Siemens, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Bornholm's Energy & Utilities (BEOF), Rønne Port, Energinet as well as Offshore Center Bornholm, which will help enable businesses to become active partners, she says, adding that work is underway to transform Rønne's old power station into the heart of the initiative.
– The Power Station could become the gateway for green energy – not just in Denmark, but throughout the world, and we dare say that because knowledge will be generated that everyone is currently demanding.
National Centre for Green Energy at
Bornholm must:
- Act as an innovation hub for startups and established businesses working with green energy
- Develop business opportunities in relation to the upcoming energy island with 2-3 GW of wind power
- Develop partnerships regarding Bornholm as a test island
- Target innovation and business promotion activities at Bornholm-based companies
- Attract businesses from outside Bornholm and startup companies
- Establish a residential college where researchers and students from institutions such as DTU can come to Bornholm for shorter or longer stays to conduct research and fieldwork together with local, national and international partners
Source: BRK, Dansk Energi
The Energy Island and business
Christa Lodahl, Head of Business at Business Center Bornholm, looks forward to the opportunity to further support local businesses in connection with green development:
– With the National Centre for Green Energy, we want to help ensure that all the activities taking place around Bornholm are linked to local development, and there is great interest and support from the business community.
– At Business Center Bornholm we see many opportunities, and we will, among other things, offer individual consultancy programmes to 10 companies, for example if they are to work as sub-contractors. In the process, we will help to identify any potential barriers. This could be, for example, that a company needs a green account, new certifications or to upgrade its cybersecurity, but the programme is not locked to anything specific and will be based on the individual company's needs. Among other things, we will also create ”innovation tracks”, where we sit down with various experts to work purposefully with specific challenges and issues among the companies, so that they are well equipped for the green transition.
– The test activities can also create tasks in connection with measurement and data collection. In addition, they form the basis for new partnerships that can increase value creation in small and medium-sized enterprises. You can acquire new knowledge, have something tested out in the company, and gain valuable insight so that you can advance with your green transition. It can become a competitive advantage, as it would otherwise be a major cost.
– Sometimes we hear that the Energy Island might seem a bit intangible, but we must remember that it is the first time in world history that such a thing is being made. We have nothing to lean on, and therefore we have to think in several different scenarios when making a roadmap. Everything is still in the initial phase, as we have just received the final approval, but we are very mindful of getting started quickly – we are here for the local businesses.
A large potential
The National Centre for Green Energy must, in addition to sparring opportunities regarding the green transition and green energy, provide access to the recruitment of students who will live on the island for a period to help the business community.
– BEOF and DTU have a long-standing partnership regarding tests that will help us rapidly transition to an intelligent, green society. It is essentially this partnership that the National Centre for Green Energy is building upon and wishes to expand to more players. Tests are to be conducted in connection with the establishment of the Energy Island, and in this regard, Siemens and Ørsted expect to establish themselves here, she says, adding that other universities besides DTU have also shown interest in coming to Bornholm – among others, the highly acclaimed Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
– We are, after all, a geographically defined community representing just under one percent of the population, so it is easy to carry out tests here – and to scale them out to the rest of Denmark, Europe and the world. Local businesses can participate in the development of new technologies, but also increase their business base to supply services as subcontractors for these activities, as well as prepare them for the Energy Island – the major delivery, but also upcoming energy islands, because more of these are only to be expected with the current situation in the energy supply sector and the political desires for a green transition.
Can you give examples of tests?
– It must be investigated how we can use the enormous amount of power that will come in from the Energy Island so that it can be integrated into our relatively small Bornholm electricity grid, which Energinet has confirmed they will work towards. This has never been done before and requires the development of new technological solutions. In addition to collecting data, there will also be activities to help disseminate the data so that businesses locally, nationally and internationally can benefit from it.
Where can businesses find out more about the opportunities?
– Both the municipality, Business Center Bornholm and other partners in the National Centre for Green Energy will be contacting Bornholm-based businesses very soon, as there are many activities targeted at businesses. A roadmap is currently being prepared for when things will happen, so that businesses can prepare. When it comes to actually being able to bid for the Energy Island tenders, BRK's efforts have so far resulted in an indication from Energinet that they will try to break down their large tenders into packages as small as possible so that Bornholm-based businesses can also take part in the construction – because it is going to be a huge construction project.
– In January, we were visited by the first 30 DTU students for three days, and that has already resulted in three concrete projects with Bornholm-based businesses, and there will be much more of that to come. Incidentally, the students said that it was brilliantly cool that the business community on Bornholm is so welcoming – the door to the director's office is open, and that is completely different to what they are used to back in Lyngby. That provides even better opportunities for collaboration, says Caroline White, project manager for the newly established National Centre for Green Energy.