Denmark has the word on energy but are we listening?

They say that in Esbjerg you can smell the fish from the harbor on a windy day, but you can smell the money every day.

The Danish seaside city, which is comparable in size to Coffs Harbor with a population of around 70,000, is known for successfully reinventing itself.

It was a commercial seafood hub in the 1960s and 70s, supporting 2000 fishermen, 670 vessels and 10,000 fishing-related jobs.

Moves to curb overfishing have led to scaling back and these days there are just 10 active vessels and 500 jobs, most of which are being processed.

Denmark, which was struggling with the crisis and had to grapple with its excessive dependence on imported oil, made Sundays car-free in 1973, at a time when prices were increasing.

In contrast, the Port of Esbjerg moved into the “black gold” by servicing drilling rigs during the boom of the oil and gas industry in the North Sea in the 1980s and 1990s.

Money also poured in, and the city now has more BMWs per capita than anywhere else in the country.

In the early 1990s, as climate science became stronger, Denmark introduced a carbon tax and built the world’s first offshore wind farm, Vindeby.

Ten years later, Esbjerg also saw the future and today boasts the largest offshore wind port in the world.

“(In Australia) your mentality is still between black and green energy, but in Denmark it’s over now, it’s just energy,” says Jesper Banks, Australia’s chief operating officer, joking that his country is “colour blind”.

“It’s not that we’re green-minded in any way; we’re just looking for opportunities.

“We’re open-minded, we want our paycheck. At the end of the day, it’s about money.”

As Europe races to install 10,000 wind turbines in the North Sea to increase offshore energy capacity to at least 150 GW by 2050, the port is booked until 2032 to service ships installing wind turbines.

This will provide energy to 230 million households.

The port is being proactive about its future, regularly taking high school students on trips to taste lucrative high-tech careers in artificial intelligence, big data, engineering, logistics, construction, law, maintenance, welding, transportation and mechanics.

Former master mariner Kurt Mathiesen worked there for 36 years and saw first-hand the transfer of skills from fishing to oil and gas, then wind.

There are currently about 30 boats dedicated to ferrying turbine technicians to offshore farms at 6 a.m. and collecting them at the end of the day.

We expect this number to increase to 200.

“Many former fishermen work as captains or assistants on ships that take people out because these fishermen know how to react in the North Sea,” Mr Mathiesen says.

“It’s dangerous; big waves and a lot of traffic. They know how to operate in these waters.”

A tour of the harbor makes it clear that Denmark invented Lego: Pre-assembled turbine towers are loaded onto a lift ship called the Wind Keeper, and dozens of 115-foot-long turbine blades are stacked neatly on racks.

When Tasmania’s Queen Mary of Denmark arrives for an official visit on March 14, she will travel with a delegation of 55 companies, many of whom represent the movers and shakers behind Denmark’s energy transition.

Australia’s Liberal and National parties are locked in knots over a 2050 net-zero emissions target, while ambitious Denmark, which emits 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gases compared to Australia’s 1.1 per cent, aims to reach net negative by 2050.

Two Danish companies, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and energy giant Orsted, want to build large offshore projects off Gippsland in Victoria.

Both are currently in the feasibility stage.

Towns between Wilsons Promontory and Lakes Entrance may soon have the chance to emulate Esbjerg’s wind power boom.

The Victorian government says offshore wind field could potentially create 15,000 construction jobs and 7,500 ongoing positions.

Per Mejnert Kristensen, Orsted’s Head of Asia Pacific, says the Gippsland coast offers “Goldilocks conditions”.

“Gippsland has many of the key elements needed to make offshore wind possible and feasible,” he told a group of Australian reporters in Copenhagen.

“It’s got very good, consistent wind speeds, it’s got relatively shallow water so you can use bottom-fixed technology, it’s located relatively close to the launch, and on top of that there’s an existing grid.”

Peter Boeskov, chief operating officer of the Danish Export and Investment Fund, said he saw Australia as an attractive and reliable investment destination and that the untapped country limit was A$10 billion.

According to Danish Minister of Climate and Energy Lars Aagaard, countries that believe in science should work together.

“This change to decarbonize our (energy) system is not something that is the monopoly of one country or region,” he says.

“We’re looking for partners, we’re looking for business opportunities. I truly believe it’s a two-way street.”

“If we manage to build more resilient, safer, decarbonized energy systems, I think we will all be winners.”

According to Troels Ranis, senior vice president of Danish Industry, the transition to green energy requires political courage, and Denmark has a lot of knowledge to share about managing a grid based on renewable energy sources.

“We know what we are good at,” he told AAP.

“We know what we can offer: cheap energy for offshore wind.”

In December, Orsted was burned down by the Trump Administration.

The Americans suspended leases for five offshore wind farms, including the company’s multibillion-dollar Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects in Rhode Island, Connecticut and near New York.

Delays cost the company up to $2.5 million per day, according to media reports.

US courts have since issued an injunction, giving the green light for construction to resume, but the long-term damage to investor sentiment remains unclear.

Asked about Australia’s democracy’s history of yo-yoing between climate action and rollbacks, Mr Aagaard says trust is everything if it wants a cheap energy transition.

“You can very, very quickly destroy trust in the private sector investing in your country. It takes years to build trust,” he says.

“If you break their trust…what does the private sector do?

“Either they will not invest or they will increase the risk allowance… All the costs of wind turbines, most of the costs are incurred during construction and installation.

“So if you want a cheap green transition, capital cost is extremely important.

“If you are a smart government, you worry about trust.”

Back at the docks, Mr. Mathiesen adjusts the collar of his fluorescent jacket in the wind and admires the turbine towers in a way that would make powerline enthusiast Darryl Kerrigan from the 1997 movie The Castle proud.

“When a turbine runs for eight minutes, it can power my wife and my house for a year,” he says.

Lisa Martin toured Denmark as a guest of the media program of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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