Hvide Sande, Denmark

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Whitney Richards
5 years ago
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1 Hvide Sande, Denmark

3 Hvide Sande is a small community of approximately 3500 souls, situated on the small strip of land between the North Sea and Ringkøbing Fjord. The town is most likely the youngest town in Denmark, as it was only founded in the early 1930 s. The town is a result of a decision made in the 1920 s, to dig a canal between the North Sea and the Fjord. The original purpose of the canal was to regulate the water level in the Fjord, but for the purpose of the construction work, a small harbour were build and this opened an opportunity for the local fishermen to ease their work. In the 1980 s more than 300 fishing boats had their homeport in Hvide Sande and the town was still expanding. Changed conditions in the fishing industry throughout the 80 s and 90 s means there today is fewer, but larger boats (today 65). This has caused a need to increase the water depth and improve other installations in the harbour in Hvide Sande. Improving these things will also enable the harbour to bring new business to town

4 A business plan for new access roads to the harbour, improved port facilities but first and foremost, new longer piers protecting the harbour, from the North Sea was formed, the plan for this was called Seaway-West. Another part of this plan was that this would enable Hvide Sande to be used both for shipping of WTG s as well as service port for the costal near wind farms planned close to Hvide Sande. Based on the ideas behind creating Seaway-West, the board of Holmsland Klit Turistforening (HKT) has decided to investigate whether it will be possible to erect wind turbines on the shore in Hvide Sande. The risk would amount to EUR spent until all permits was in place. The idea is to create a trade fond, which will develop and own the wind farm. The purpose of the trade fund will be to support any kind of business in Hvide Sande and Holmsland Klit, this including the harbour in Hvide Sande. It is expected that the wind farm will pay a substantial amount to secure this site. Main purpose is that this money will be part of the construction cost for the new piers and port facilities that will secure added water depth in the harbour of Hvide Sande.

5 Why was it interesting for HKT to take this risk? Well HKT is a member organisation, with the designated purpose of supporting tourism in Hvide Sande. The board of the organisation is convinced that the biggest tourist attraction that Hvide Sande will ever be able to offer, is an authentic west coast harbour with lots of traffic and the life that follows around it. Shortly thereafter all the administrative part of the project began, including applying for all permits as well as meeting and explaning the plans to the locals living close to the site. The approved building permit from the authorities Natur- og Miljøankenævnet was received on May 30 th That was very fortunate, as the Delivery Contract with Vestas Wind System already had been signed. This had been done to ensure timely delivered of all WTG parts, as all three WTG s had to be connected to the grid before December 31 st, to secure a better Power Purchase Agreement. Three Vestas V112 WTG s were installed directly on the beach, only a few meters from the shoreline, in December 2011.

6 It is estimated that each of the WTGs will produce close to MW in a normal wind year. The price of the project is 12 meur. Shares secure the financing of the project with a value equalling 20% of the project. These was sold only to the local population in Hvide Sande, i.e. all shareholders live within a radius of 4,5 km from the site, securing local support to the project. Totally shares was sold each at a value of 308 EUR. The last 80% of the project was financed by a bank loan, and owned by the fund. The wind farm is obligated to pay EUR per year for 30 years for the land lease to Hvide Sande Harbour; this will amount to a capitalized value of app. 11 meur. Hence the harbour will be able to take a loan of 11 meur, which will be paid by the land lease from the wind farm, the loan including interest can be paid back within 25 years. Consequently, the wind farm project has financed 11 meur of the total 20 meur investment in the port. The Fund expects to pay back the loan within a period of 7-10 years, thereafter the Fund will donate money to projects according to the regulations. The expectation is that the Fund will donate between EUR each year.

7 The purpose of the wind farm project, and the fact that all local citizens was offered shares in the project at very favourable terms, means that there is a fantastic acceptance of the wind farm, despite the fact that these turbines are placed more or less in the centre of the town. Today we are proud to have a unique wind farm project, alone by the fact that it is the only offshore wind farm actually placed on shore. Furthermore, the wind conditions at the site are excellent, high wind and no turbulence, a dream for all wind farm owners. There has been and continues to be a lot of interest for the project model we have chosen here in Hvide Sande, hence we have had many visits from visitors both from other places in Denmark and from other countries. Thank you

Ireland s. Offshore Wind Resource. An Export Opportunity. Presentation to IWEA Conference Brian Britton Secretary NOW Ireland 22 nd March 2012

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