Aalborg has ambitions to be Denmark’s green test centre

A new agreement with Port of Aalborg gives Aalborg Forsyning the right to use land around Nordjyllandsværket. The ambition is for this land to accommodate a national test centre for tomorrow’s water and energy solutions.

When Lars Christian Lilleholt, the then Energy, Utilities and Climate Minister, visited Aalborg earlier in the spring, a broad coalition of the town’s important stakeholders, including Port of Aalborg, Aalborg University, Aalborg Forsyning and House of Energy, presented the town’s proposals, explaining why Aalborg should become home to a national green test centre. Although Denmark now has a new government, Aalborg has not relinquished its ambitions to house a national green test centre – on the contrary:

– The Municipality of Aalborg is already thinking in terms of green solutions and focusing on sustainability has been in Aalborg’s blood for many years. This, by itself, gives us a solid platform on which to build a test centre of this kind. However, Aalborg University and the business sector are also waiting in the wings to collaborate closely with the Municipality of Aalborg and Aalborg Forsyning to create tomorrow’s solutions for water and energy supplies. This is why I believe that Aalborg is the obvious place for a new national green test centre. And with the new government’s ambitious climate goals we’re one step closer to building it, says the Mayor of Aalborg, Thomas Kastrup-Larsen.

– The area around Nordjyllandsværket is an obvious location because we already have the necessary energy infrastructure in place. And the plans for converting Nordjyllandsværket already include implementation of a combination of new types of energy, such as solar and wind energy, surplus heat, geothermics and heat pumps, says Lasse P N Olsen, chairman of the board of Aalborg Forsyning’s Energy Division. He is supported by Lasse Frimand Jensen, chairman of the board of Aalborg Forsyning’s Water Division:

– We’ve also initiated plans to gather all branches of the utilities companies in the administration buildings at Nordjyllandsværket. This means that, in the future, our staff’s extensive expertise and specialised knowledge will be located in one place. It offers ideal potential for collaboration, synergies, knowledge sharing and efficiency improvement across our large organisation. And there’ll only be one point of entry to the entire energy, water and climate sector, he says.

Lasse P N Olsen also stresses that this ownership secures Aalborg Forsyning’s right to use the entire area around Nordjyllandsværket and gives it free rein to make the necessary investments in tomorrow’s district heating supply.

Land from Port of Aalborg will make it happen
Effective from 1 January 2016, Aalborg Forsyning bought Nordjyllandsværket from Vattenfall. At the same time, Port of Aalborg acquired approximately one million square metres of port facilities, including harbour areas, an administration building, properties, cranes, a fuelling facility, a wind turbine, etc. The aim was to turn the area into a commercial port when the old coal power station was to be phased out according to plan in 2028.

However, the plans for a commercial port to the north of Limfjorden were outpaced by the jointly agreed visions to attract a national green test centre to the town, and Port of Aalborg’s CEO, Claus Holstein, is convinced that it will add great value to the area and the town:

– Port of Aalborg has worked closely together with the town’s other stakeholders for a long time to facilitate the process to attract a national green test centre to Aalborg. We’ve become involved in the project because we see great potential in remaining at the cutting edge of the sustainable agenda and, not least, in attracting even more green businesses and jobs to the town. Even more, it was a natural step for us to sell our land at Nordjyllandsværket as part of the strategic plan to turn Aalborg into a green test centre, he says, and he continues:

– Of course, we’ll continue to work on our development plans for Aalborg on the south side of the fjord where we have great ambitions. For instance, we’re in full swing with the development of an approximately 110,000-square-metre site between Tranholmvej and Rørdalsvej, and this will also be included in the green test centre.

For further information, please contact:

• Thomas Kastrup-Larsen, Mayor, Municipality of Aalborg, + 9931 1500
• Lasse P N Olsen, chairman of the board, Aalborg Forsyning’s Energy Division, +45 2519 9401
• Lasse Frimand Jensen, chairman of the board, Aalborg Forsyning’s Water Division, +45 3199 0649
• Søren Gais Kjeldsen, CEO, Aalborg Forsyning, +45 2940 1820