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Denmark's $34BN Energy Islands Could Solve Europe's Power Problem - YouTube
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it might not look like it but this
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is the biggest construction project in
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the history of denmark
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instead of a new city district's airport
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or high-speed rail line
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the danes are investing a whopping 34
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billion us dollars into a new kind of
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energy hub
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one located on an artificial island way
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out in the north sea
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it's the world's first energy island
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and if it all goes to plan it could help
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solve one of europe's
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biggest problems
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[Music]
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what you're looking at is an energy
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island
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think of it as an offshore power plant
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that gathers renewable electricity from
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hundreds of nearby wind turbines before
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distributing it to several nations via
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undersea
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cables although the exact location is
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yet to be decided
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denmark's pilot project will be based
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about 80 kilometers west of thor's mint
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on the country's utelin peninsula
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with a total area of at least 120 000
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square meters
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that's almost 100 olympic sized swimming
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pools
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the island will be capable of providing
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3 million european homes with green
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energy
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and that's just in the first phase all
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this wind power funneling into the site
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will give it a capacity of around
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three gigawatts but this could
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potentially rise to over 10 gigawatts
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enough for 10 million households over on
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the other side of the country in the
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baltic sea
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a second smaller island is also in the
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works although
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this one will be joined onto the
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physical island of bornholm
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when both are up and running and at full
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flow that figure
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jumps to 12 gigawatts equivalent to the
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entire
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current offshore wind capacity for the
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whole of europe
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for the north sea island building it
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this far offshore puts it in an ideal
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spot for serving several nations
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and because there's so much space around
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it it can be easily expanded in the
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future
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examples of how it could be developed
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further include a new harbour and
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heliport
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as well as facilities for storing energy
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on site and converting it for other
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purposes
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such as green fuels for shipping
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aviation and heavy industries
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although the scheme has been given the
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green light we still don't know for sure
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what the finished island will look like
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and there are different concepts for it
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that's because while the danish
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government will have a majority stake in
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the project
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private companies are also being invited
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to become partners
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with a tendering process set to begin in
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2022
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and the winner announced in early 2023
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many of the plans for the design and
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construction will come from these
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private firms which is why
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a lot of questions around exactly how it
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will be done remain
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unanswered for now the vinder consortium
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is
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one of the groups expected to make a bid
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for the construction and operation
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of the north sea island their ideas
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include adding thermal storage units a
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data center
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accommodation and recreation facilities
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for the site's workers
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as well as an area for visitors and
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research
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these pictures show that it'll probably
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be either made of watertight casings
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placed on the seabed and surrounded by
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sea walls
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or built up with sand as an artificial
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island
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preparations are already underway
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including mapping the seabed where the
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island and the turbines will go
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this is so the soil quality can be
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analyzed and damage to the environment
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limited
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whatever form it eventually takes the
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project will be a massive step forward
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for the integration of europe's power
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grids
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and many see it as crucial to helping
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countries all over the continent
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transition away from fossil fuels the
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system is designed to be flexible too
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with the ability to collect and
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distribute power around the combined
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grid
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depending on demand it's also a
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necessary move for denmark itself
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now the largest oil producer in the eu
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the country has announced it will stop
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extracting oil and gas from the north
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sea
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entirely by 2050 the eu as a whole
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also needs to increase its use of
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renewables as the 27 member
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states have now committed to becoming
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climate neutral by 2050
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some even sooner this means that any
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greenhouse gas emissions they're still
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producing will need to be
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offset by processes that remove carbon
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from the atmosphere
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so they'll want to be admitting as
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little as possible
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to reach this goal the eu commission has
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set a target of 300 gigawatts of
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combined offshore and wind capacity by
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2050
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around 25 times higher than it is at
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present
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while some countries like germany the
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netherlands and belgium
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already have strong wind sectors and
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denmark was the first to build an
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offshore farm
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nearly 30 years ago not all eu nations
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have the expertise
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or the space to go big with wind
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but if they could gain access to a
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larger network of energy islands in the
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future
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located in places more favorable for
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wind power
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this could go a long way towards helping
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more countries hit their targets
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ultimately creating a climate neutral
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europe
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after that who knows if the project is a
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success then surely others will follow
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and just maybe in the future you might
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find energy islands like this
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appearing off a coastline near you if
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you liked this video
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and you want to learn more about where
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construction is headed
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make sure you're subscribed to
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tomorrow's build
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[Music]
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you
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