340 L. BOSCÁN ET AL.
Not only will intermittent renewables increase—because of Denmark’s
commitment to more wind power—installed domestic thermal capacity
has exhibited a declining trend in the past 20 years (see Fig. 13.7).
In addition, changing economic conditions call into question the
future viability of thermal cogeneration plants which have played an
important part in Denmark’s energy efficiency. As part of the district
heating modernization process and in line with the expiry of the grundbeløb (discussed under challenge 2), decentralized (gas-fired) cogeneration capacity is no longer entitled to capacity payments. This means that
Denmark will have to address its flexibility requirements with a significantly lower domestic dispatchable capacity, increasing requirements on
imported power (Hvelplund et al. 2017) and other sources of flexibility.
As remedial measures for the elimination of the capacity payment, the
Danish government has allocated subsidy funds for district heating firms
to switch to large-scale heat pumps.
Fig. 13.7 Installed thermal capacity and share of electricity produced in
CHP plants (Note Left axis: Thermal Capacity; Right axis: Share of Electricity
Produced in CHP Plants. Source Author created figure based on data from
Danish Energy Agency [2018c])
Not only will intermittent renewables increase—because of Denmark’s
commitment to more wind power—installed domestic thermal capacity
has exhibited a declining trend in the past 20 years (see Fig. 13.7).
In addition, changing economic conditions call into question the
future viability of thermal cogeneration plants which have played an
important part in Denmark’s energy efficiency. As part of the district
heating modernization process and in line with the expiry of the grundbeløb (discussed under challenge 2), decentralized (gas-fired) cogeneration capacity is no longer entitled to capacity payments. This means that
Denmark will have to address its flexibility requirements with a significantly lower domestic dispatchable capacity, increasing requirements on
imported power (Hvelplund et al. 2017) and other sources of flexibility.
As remedial measures for the elimination of the capacity payment, the
Danish government has allocated subsidy funds for district heating firms
to switch to large-scale heat pumps.
Fig. 13.7 Installed thermal capacity and share of electricity produced in
CHP plants (Note Left axis: Thermal Capacity; Right axis: Share of Electricity
Produced in CHP Plants. Source Author created figure based on data from
Danish Energy Agency [2018c])