Jørgen Tranberg

Thursday, March 08, 2007   (updated Wednesday, August 29, 2007)

What triggered your interest in renewable energy?
You don’t invest 19 million crowns just for the fun of it. It was easier when you just bought a few windmill shares because it was good for the environment and other widely accepted values. Large scale investments have to be economically viable.

The top of Jørgens onshore wind turbine.

Did some particular event spark your interest?
I remember standing at the smithy on the top of the hill in Brundby, shortly after moving to Samsø – and thinking, it’s almost as windy here as it in Western Jutland where I grew up. The windmill projects started shortly thereafter.

How has the economics of renewable energy influenced your involvement in these questions?
I have all along expected a reasonable return. We’ve just had a gear breakdown that cost a million crowns to replace, so there are ups and downs that cannot be foreseen, but it should still work out OK.

What have you earned or saved in dollars and cents?
The overall return still depends very much on the prices we get for our electricity from year ten to twenty. The best thing to do is to accumulate production profits to offset unforeseeable expenses, rather than using the money in the household budget.

Has your renewable energy system changed your daily routines?
You certainly notice the wind. Windy weather isn’t good weather for spraying the fields, but rain makes the grass grow, wind is good for windpower production and the sun makes a boat trip pleasant. All kinds of weather are welcome, except sleet and hail! After the first ten years I’ll be watching the electricity prices more closely, when they start fluctuating more. When you sell 6.5 million kWh a year, a price difference of 10 Danish øre (two cents US) means 650.000 Danish crowns ($130,000 US).

Jørgen Tranberg in the top of hes ofshore investment

Vindturbines on map

What do you think about the objective to make Samsø a renewable energy island?
The energy island project has been very interesting. I’m an active participant and my days would be very different without this project. I spend a lot of time working on energy island related issues, at least an hour a day.

Do you have good advice to others who might like to invest in similar domestic heating systems?
Go for whatever you find gratifying – if you believe it is feasible. But don’t stake your entire pension plan in one field like renewable energy. Markets and subsidies can change overnight. When we started no one was interested in CO2, now we’re updated on climactic change ten times a day. Everyone seems to have acknowledged that the temperature is rising, except those buying seaside building lots.

Would you have done things differently if you had to start over?
Not especially, nothing major anyways. At the moment I’m frustrated that we don’t have the capacity to press canola oil to fuel our tractors and cars. That has to be our next project!