Denmark unveils energy plan to be ‘free from Putin’

Denmark unveiled a plan on Tuesday to reduce its reliance on Russian gas by increasing renewable energy, biogas, and domestic gas production in order to become “free” of President Vladimir Putin.

While the European Union has so far refused to impose a ban on Russian oil and gas as a result of the Ukraine conflict, the 27-nation bloc plans to reduce its gas imports from Russia by the end of the year.

Individual member countries have also unveiled plans to cut their use of Russian fossil fuels.

The plan presented by the Danish government includes moving half of the 400,000 households that are heated with gas to district heating networks or electric heat pumps by 2028.

For other households and businesses, the government aims to develop biogas from renewable sources “that will ensure that we are free from Putin,” Climate and Energy Minister Dan Jorgensen said at a press conference.

The government also stepped up its programme to develop renewable energy, saying it now plans to quadruple the number of solar power stations and land-based wind farms by 2030.

Half of Denmark’s electric power already comes from wind energy.

“We want to develop renewable energies as much as it is possible to do it in an intelligent manner,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.

Gas accounts for 18 percent of energy consumed in Denmark each year. National production accounted for three quarters of the gas consumed in 2019, with Russia among the main sources of imported natural gas, according to the Danish energy agency.

The government said it would study the possibility of temporarily increasing gas production at fields already being exploited in the North Sea.

It added that it has not dropped plans to end gas production in the North Sea by 2050.

According to the International Energy Agency, the EU imported 155 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in 2021, accounting for 45 percent of its total gas imports.