The Danish energy agency said on June 22 there had been a "political consensus to let DONG Energy develop the Anholt offshore wind farm, which will be able to provide 400,000 households with environmentally-friendly power."
The 14-billion-kroner (US$ 2.3 billion) wind farm, one of the world's largest, will be built offshore of Denmark's Anholt island in the Kattegat sea and have a production capacity of 400 megawatts (MW).
DONG energy said the farm would first start supplying power at the end of 2012.
It added Germany's Siemens Wind Power would supply the farm's 111 turbines, which have a capacity of 3.6 MW each.
The state-owned company was the only one to take part in the call for tenders, Climate and Energy Minister Lykke Friis said.
"I would have liked for there to have been more candidates and a lower price. But it the current competition situation, we received the best offer possible," she said.
An independent analysis by audit cabinet Ernst&Young said DONG's offer was "reasonable" and that its high price was due to high global demand for wind turbines.
The climate and energy ministry said that construction of the wind farm would create up to 8,000 jobs.
It also said the giant wind farm would bring Denmark one percentage point closer to its objective of ensuring that 30% of its energy use comes from sustainable sources by 2020, compared to 20% today.
In Denmark, where the share of energy coming from wind power is the largest in the world, the main sustainable energy sources are wind and biomass.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
