The power of a green and flexible grid

In 2025, 25 journalists from Brazil, India, Kenya, and South Africa joined our learning programme “#2025 – Reporting from the Frontline of the Global Climate Crisis in an Era of Fake News.” During the group’s participation at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, four of the journalists interviewed Ole Emmik Sørensen, Head of Global Cooperation at the Danish Energy Agency, about Denmark’s renewable energy transition and what other countries can take from it.

By Vibeke Quaade

Denmark has long been a frontrunner in the global shift to renewables. Wind and solar supply a substantial share of the country’s electricity mix and ambitious policies aim to phase out fossil fuels entirely within the next decade.

But what enabled Denmark to reach this point?

The opening question in the interview with Emil Ole Emmik Sørensen came from South Africa’s Semeyi Zake, head of channel at Business Day TV, who leaned forward and asked,

“What made it possible?”

He added that he was particularly curious about the lessons Denmark’s experience might offer to others and his views on the African continent’s prospects for renewable energy development.

“There wasn’t just one silver bullet,” Sørensen replied. “Part of the explanation is political ambition combined with a clear understanding of the economic benefits. Another part is how we go about implementing political decisions in Denmark.”

He carried on, making the Danish Energy Agency’s role very clear,

“Politicians set the goals and the Danish Energy Agency turn those goals into results along with our implementing partners.”

Managing variability
Sørensen continued explaining the Danish approach to sustainable green energy, emphasising that it was built on one defining principle: it had to be reliable enough to remain steady, yet flexible enough to adapt to different seasons and weather shifts and this was also the way the agency itself steered its work.

For Dennis Aseto, journalist and anchor at KTN News Kenya, this tactic resonated instantly. Kenya, he noted, was 90 percent renewable, powered by hydro, geothermal and wind.

“But when drought hits,” Aseto explained, “you feel it immediately. Our challenge is not our ambitions, it is managing variability and getting new projects online and connected fast enough.”

Sørensen picked up the remark by explaining how Denmark handled variability at a high-renewable scale, in other words how Denmark integrated such a high scale of renewable energy sources into the electricity grid.

“Most of Denmark’s electricity comes from wind and solar and the excess is exported to our neighboring countries – like Norway. In Norway hydro storage balances the system. When Denmark produces more than it needs, electricity flows to Norway and the water there that would otherwise have been use to produce electricity is stored in reservoirs. When the wind drops, Norway returns electricity to Denmark.”

“We have almost zero excess renewables in Denmark. Batteries play a limited role and hydrogen is being tested for future storage. Market flexibility remains the true shock absorber.”

Watch International Roundup, KTN News Kenya (time code 02.25).

The power of interconnection

Denmark is closely connected to the European power grids which increases the flexibility of the systems and ensures that the cheap renewable electricity is used best possible.

“These interconnectors,” Sørensen stressed, “reduce costs, stabilise national grids and make renewables a shared challenge rather than a challenge to be dealt with alone. Regional pooling systems like the East African Power Pool could play a similar role, especially for smaller countries.”

“Flexibility reduces the need for storage. Interconnectors allow electricity to flow from areas with excess production to areas of high demand.”

He then admitted, “It isn’t simple though. Planning alone can take up to a decade. But the end result is worth it. The grid collaboration benefits every country connected.”

People, skills – and jobs

Then the conversation shifted from planning to people.

“But what about the people and the skill sets needed to run these systems?” asked Aseto.

Sørensen’s answer was very clear.

“Denmark’s wind industry currently creates jobs for around 90,000 people – including indirect jobs, which is roughly three percent of Denmark’s entire workforce. But like the grid collaboration with neighbouring countries, it took decades of coordinated planning, education, sector alignment and political focus to get where we are today.”

“None of this was accidental. Technology alone doesn’t make energy flow, people do.”

Energy sector cooperation
Nick Hedley, founding editor of The Progress Playbook and contributor to South Africa’s News24’s climate reporting, then steered the conversation beyond Europe and back towards emerging renewable markets.

“How does Denmark collaborate with countries outside Europe and specifically in Africa and South America?” he wanted to know.

“Denmark,” Sørensen explained, “works directly with governments in 14 developing countries and 7 OECD countries. Here we share expertise on issues like long-term grid planning, investor risk reduction, renewable energy regulation, tender transparency, energy efficiency, modelling and analytics, and increasingly the role of civil society.”

“We see capacity development as a means of making each other stronger. We ask questions. We collaborate. Sometimes we do in-depth analyses together.”

Just as human capacity has been a priority in Denmark’s own energy transition, it is equally important in the Strategic Sector Cooperation programme. This is where Danida Fellowship Centre comes in.

The centre’s learning activities and capacity-building programmes equip regulators, utility personnel and policymakers from Denmark’s partner countries to operate energy systems independently, while also providing guidance on governance, regulation and transparent frameworks.

“Danida Fellowship Centre’s learning activities are hugely important in the sector cooperation we have on energy with your countries,” Sørensen told the four journalists.

Lessons for other countries
As the interview drew to a close, Nicola Pamplona, reporter from Folha de S.Paulo, one of Brazil’s most influential news media outlets, asked whether Denmark had specific lessons that could inspire others to get their renewable energy implementation right.

Sørensen again highlighted regulatory clarity and flexibility. In the case of Brazil, thermal power, including older coal plants, could be retrofitted to balance fluctuating wind and solar output. Sophisticated models could make variable generation predictable. And hydrogen could provide additional storage when electricity is abundant.

Pamplona noted that Brazil, with its large hydropower capacity and growing wind and solar sectors, faces challenges in balancing variable power generation across a vast territory.

Sørensen agreed, adding that transparent rules and predictable regulatory frameworks are crucial anywhere, not least to uphold investor confidence and long-term planning.

By the end of the interview, Sørensen’s message was clear. The success of renewable energy depends on political ambitions, technology, policy, people and collaboration. But, above all, on implementation and the willingness to make it both reliable and flexible.

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