HOFOR said in a press release issued this morning (6 July) the Board notified the company that it was revoking the establishment permit granted to the Aflandshage offshore wind farm by the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) in November 2022.
According to the company, which is still reviewing the Board’s documentation, a changed practice by the authorities regarding the counting of bats was what triggered the rejection by the appeal board, among other things.
“We have otherwise had a good, ongoing dialogue about the environmental impact assessment with the authorities, including about bats”, said Jesper Pedersen, Area Manager for Wind & Energy Trading at HOFOR. “We will now engage in dialogue with the authorities, our advisers and suppliers about the next step”.
This dialogue should clarify the need for supplementary studies that can ensure the implementation of the project, according to the developer.
The offshore wind farm has just recently continued after a temporary setback that came as the open-door scheme, through which HOFOR applied to build the 286 MW Aflandshage, was suspended in February as it was concluded that the permitting scheme was potentially in breach of EU law.
The DEA resumed the processing of the Aflandshage wind project in March, after the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities assessed that the establishment permit was not in violation of the EU regulations.
HOFOR has already selected its Tier 1 suppliers for the 280 MW project, planned to be built in the Øresund Strait, including Siemens Gamesa for the supply of 26 of its 11 MW wind turbines and Per Aarsleff A/S for the delivery of gravity-based concrete foundations with Nature-Inclusive Design.
HOFOR’s project is not the only offshore wind farm to have its permit revoked. At the beginning of 2021, the Energy Board of Appeal revoked the permits for Vattenfall’s Vesterhav Syd and Vesterhav Nord nearshore wind farms after a number of complaints were filed against the Danish Energy Agency’s authorisation.
In the summer of that year, the Board completed the processing of all the complaints against Vesterhav Syd and Nord’s permit and the projects brought back the permit(s) into effect.
