Biomass consumption in the form of straw and wood pellets for electricity and CHP generation in-creased by 50 per cent while coal and oil consumption fell slightly. This is one of the conclusions of Energinet.dk’s environmental statement.

The increase in biomass consumption is largely due to the conversion of two large power station units at Funen and Amager Power Stations. At Funen Power Station, a separate straw-fired unit has been established, while unit 1 at Amager Power Station has been converted to fire a larger propor-tion of biomass.

Despite a poor wind year, significantly more wind power was also generated in 2010. Relative to 2009, which was also a bad year for wind, wind turbines generated 16 per cent more power in 2010. The increase primarily stems from the commissioning of two new 200 MW offshore wind farms. Horns Rev 2 west of Blåvand near Esbjerg was commissioned in mid-2009 and thus generated power throughout all of 2010, while the newest wind farm, Rødsand 2, south of the island of Lolland below Zealand supplied power during the second half of 2010.

For a Danish family with a power consumption of 4,000 kWh a year, the increase in the share of renewable energy meant that in 2010 1,375 kWh came from renewable energy such as wind and biomass. In 2009, this figure was 1,125 kWh.

The larger volume of renewable energy also meant that a typical household’s power consumption resulted in lower CO2 emissions. Thus, in 2010, an average household’s power consumption emit-ted 1,792 kg CO2, while in 2009 the figure was 1,880 kg.