100% in ten years

Tuesday, March 13, 2007   (updated Friday, January 15, 2010)

Samsø began orienting island citizens about the potential and perspectives in the Energy Island project in 1998. There was a Ten Tear Plan (link) to orchestrate the project.
Eleven 1 MW wind turbines would make the island self-sufficient with electricity. They were erected in 1999-2000. The wind turbines are owned by a windmill cooperative and by individual owners.

The energy plan envisaged 60% of the island homes supplied with district heating and 40 % with individual heating systems. Local public meetings and citizens groups worked to generate the broadest possible base of public support for these initiatives. Nordby/Mårup was the first district heating system, established in 2002. Onsbjerg followed and finally Brundby/Ballen in 2005.

Houses outside the district heating districts were given several different options. They could requisition an energy appraisal of their house, a report which gave specific suggestions for conversion to renewable energy, as well as advice on how to conserve energy by improving house insulation and installing better windows and class A electrical appliances. Until 2002, a national program subsidised the installation of biomass heating, solar collectors and heat pump systems, an incentive that convinced many homeowners to replace their oil furnaces and electric panel heaters.

Several small-scale projects started after the energy island project in 1998. These investigated the viability of methane gas, disposal site gases and canola oil for vehicle transportation. During this same period, seven household windmills and three PV solar collectors systems were established.

The foundation work for the ten offshore wind turbines started in 2002 and the offshore wind park was the biggest project in the renewable energy implementation plan. These wind turbines were erected to compensate for the CO2 emissions from the transport sector and to match the energy consumption in this sector. Technical solutions are not yet available that can replace all the island vehicles.

The Samsø Energy Academy was built in 2006 and opened its doors for visitors in 2007.