Australia has world-class wind and solar resources, strong investor interest, net zero ambition, and an urgent need to accelerate clean electricity. The question is no longer whether the transition will happen; but whether projects can be approved, financed and built fast enough — and with enough local support – to make the transition affordable.
Denmark offers a useful reference point, not because it can be copied, but because it shows how a country can turn constraint into focus. Its energy transition was born not from abundance, but vulnerability.
In the early 1970s, Denmark relied heavily on imported oil; the oil crises of 1973 and 1979 made energy security a national priority and pushed the country toward efficiency, domestic energy and renewables. It is a reminder of the old maxim: never waste a good crisis.
The results are well documented. From 1990 to 2020, renewable power generation rose from 3 per cent of Denmark’s generation mix to more than 80 per cent, while carbon dioxide emissions from power and heat fell by 76 per cent.
In 2024, Eurostat recorded Denmark’s renewable share of net electricity generation at 88.4 per cent – the highest in the EU. Australia’s geography, federal system and market scale are different, but several observations are useful, and the current crisis may provide a similar opportunity for Australia.
