Historic visit: China’s energy minister visits Denmark

The visit is the culmination of close collaboration between Denmark and China, which is the world’s largest consumer of energy.

“It is a feather in our cap that Nur Bekri has chosen to come to Denmark. China’s transition away from coal and oil to green energy sources is in progress. However, it is a difficult task, which necessitates know how and careful planning. Denmark can take a leading role in the transition by makings its decades-long experience available”, says the Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt.

China holds the key to enormous CO2 reductions
Denmark has closely collaborated with China on energy matters for a number of years, with advisors from the Danish Energy Agency working together with Chinese authorities on renewable energy and energy efficiency. The overall goal of the collaboration is to ensure a green transition in China and reduce the country’s CO2 emissions as well as consumption of coal.

A current problem China is facing is that almost 20% of the country’s wind power isn’t being integrated into the energy system due to a lack of flexibility. In practice, this translates into situations where it is necessary to use coal to power the country’s energy system, where it actually would have been possible to use wind instead.

Back in January 2016, the two ministers signed a Danish-Chinese collaboration agreement on power station flexibility to address this problem. It is estimated that China can reduce its CO2 emissions by an amount that is equivalent to what Denmark emits on an annual basis if the problem with flexibility is solved.

“China is the world’s largest emitter of CO2 and the key to solving global warming largely rests with China. I’m therefore looking forward to presenting the Danish energy system and discussing with Mr. Bekri how Danish experiences can be implemented favourably in China, says the Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt.

Nur Bekri will visit, among other things, the headquarters for Denmark’s power transmission systems in Fredericia and the wind turbine test centre LORC in Munkebo.

Doubling of export
The Danish government presented an export strategy for energy technology in March 2017. The objective is to double the export of energy technology from approximately EUR 9.4 billion to at least EUR 18.8 billion by 2030. “It’s no secret that China is a very interesting market for Danish energy companies. Good relations with Chinese ministers and politicians can open many doors. Therefore Nur Bekri and I are going to eat lunch with the managing directors of some of Denmark’s largest energy companies, where we will discuss how Denmark can help China reach its energy and climate objectives”, the Danish Minister for Energy, Utilities and Climate says.

Source: State of Green/The Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilties and Climate