Danish energy group DONG Energy has released its financial results for 2016 and announced that it would stop consuming coal in its power plants by 2023.
Since 2006, the company has cut its coal consumption by 73%, from 6.2 Mt in 2006 to 1.7 Mt in 2016, thanks to successive coal-fired power plants conversions to biomass: Herning and Avedøre power plants have used biomass (wood pellets and wood chips) since 2002, and the Studstrup and Avedøre power plants have been 100%-biomass-fired since 2016. The Skærbæk power plant will use only wood chips in the spring of 2017. By 2023, DONG Energy's remaining coal-fired power plants, namely Asnæs and Esbjerg, will have been converted to biomass. This fuel switch is expected to cut DONG Energy's CO2 emissions by 18 Mt by 2023, compared to 2006 levels.
In 2016, DONG Energy generated 14.4 TWh (+12%), including 6 TWh (+5%) from offshore wind (+4% in Denmark to 2.2 TWh) and 8.4 TWh from thermal power plants (+18%); the higher thermal generation was related to improved spreads and lower supply of hydropower. The group had an installed offshore capacity of 3.6 GW in 2016 (+600 MW installed during the year) and plans to reach 11-12 GW by 2025, of which 7.4 GW with a positive final investment decision.
DONG Energy invested DKK 15bn (€2bn) in 2016 and plans to invest DKK18-20bn (€2.4-2.7bn) in 2017.
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