13 BEYOND WIND: NEW CHALLENGES TO THE EXPANSION …
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With limited supply-side flexibility resources and increased reliance
on cross-border trade of electricity, subsidizing the shift to heat pumps
may prove insufficient. Thus, it becomes crucial to enable alternative
sources of flexibility, including demand-side flexibility. In Denmark, the
implementation of a supplier-centric model, in which all retail market
business processes are centralized through a registry (DataHub) and all
customers receive a simplified bill, is a step in the right direction. The
rollout of smart meters will be completed by 2020, and the possibility of
introducing hourly and sub-hourly metered readings complements these
measures. However, well beyond the technical feasibility and investments
in smart grid solutions (which Denmark is advancing), demand-side flexibility depends on the behavioral aspects of demand, which are difficult
to predict. In summary, Denmark requires a more integrated strategy to
further renewables that extends beyond traditional, centralized solutions.
Lessons Learned and Transferable Experiences
The Danish energy system evolved within a larger societal framework
that has facilitated the adoption of renewable energy, the consolidation
of investments for low-cost distribution through, e.g., cogeneration and
district heating, and cooperative behavior within and across layers of social
and economic decision-making. In this section, we address how understanding this larger framework serves to both recommend conditions that
increase the likelihood of success and identify limits to system change.
When comparing Denmark to other nations and regions, the state and the
community have a high ability to work together toward change. Danish
community initiatives are unique in at least three elements.
First, Danish community initiatives tend to emerge in cooperation
with local governments. This is the result of centuries of mutual support
between community and state. In Denmark’s initial industrial revolution, human and physical capital deepening came not through intense
competition of the sort witnessed in British mills, but rather through a
strong cooperative movement that shared agricultural knowledge among
farmers, raised and standardized the quality of Danish export products,
and found efficient ways to economize on coal imports from Britain by
sharing creameries and other processing facilities (Henriques and Sharp
2016). The lack of domestic energy sources from coal or even wood,
which the other Scandinavian countries had in much larger quantities,
341
With limited supply-side flexibility resources and increased reliance
on cross-border trade of electricity, subsidizing the shift to heat pumps
may prove insufficient. Thus, it becomes crucial to enable alternative
sources of flexibility, including demand-side flexibility. In Denmark, the
implementation of a supplier-centric model, in which all retail market
business processes are centralized through a registry (DataHub) and all
customers receive a simplified bill, is a step in the right direction. The
rollout of smart meters will be completed by 2020, and the possibility of
introducing hourly and sub-hourly metered readings complements these
measures. However, well beyond the technical feasibility and investments
in smart grid solutions (which Denmark is advancing), demand-side flexibility depends on the behavioral aspects of demand, which are difficult
to predict. In summary, Denmark requires a more integrated strategy to
further renewables that extends beyond traditional, centralized solutions.
Lessons Learned and Transferable Experiences
The Danish energy system evolved within a larger societal framework
that has facilitated the adoption of renewable energy, the consolidation
of investments for low-cost distribution through, e.g., cogeneration and
district heating, and cooperative behavior within and across layers of social
and economic decision-making. In this section, we address how understanding this larger framework serves to both recommend conditions that
increase the likelihood of success and identify limits to system change.
When comparing Denmark to other nations and regions, the state and the
community have a high ability to work together toward change. Danish
community initiatives are unique in at least three elements.
First, Danish community initiatives tend to emerge in cooperation
with local governments. This is the result of centuries of mutual support
between community and state. In Denmark’s initial industrial revolution, human and physical capital deepening came not through intense
competition of the sort witnessed in British mills, but rather through a
strong cooperative movement that shared agricultural knowledge among
farmers, raised and standardized the quality of Danish export products,
and found efficient ways to economize on coal imports from Britain by
sharing creameries and other processing facilities (Henriques and Sharp
2016). The lack of domestic energy sources from coal or even wood,
which the other Scandinavian countries had in much larger quantities,