Site selection process

• Planning Act
• Executive Order on Planning for Wind Turbines
• SEA and EIA Act
• RE Act

Onshore wind, ground-mounted and rooftop solar PV
Spatial planning
The Planning Act prescribes a municipal pre-selection of areas for technical plants, in the municipal plan. (§ 11a and chap. 6 Planning Act; Executive Order on Planning for Wind Turbines; SEA and EIA Act).
Within the designated areas project developers can chose a suitable location and request the municipality to initiate a local planning process if required. A local plan is generally required before any major construction work can be carried out in an area. The municipal council is obligated to draft and publish a proposal for a local plan within one year from the notification (§ 13 Planning Act).
If no designated areas are available, developers begin projects by screening for suitable locations outside these areas. When such a location is found, the developer requests the municipality to initiate the required spatial planning processes, including amending the municipal plan and adoption a local plan for the area in question.
If the municipal council decides to meet the request, the planning processes for an amendment to the municipal plan and for a local plan will be initiated and run in parallel. At the same time, if required, a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of both plan proposals is conducted, including consultation of authorities. The municipality will also assess whether the specific project requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which in that case will be done at the same time as the SEA and drafted as one comprehensive report. When the plan proposals and the SEA/EIA study are completed, they are submitted for an eight-week public consultation, whereafter the municipal council can adopt both plans. At the same time, the EIA permission is granted. (Planning Act chap. 6; SEA and EIA Act).
Offshore wind
Screening
There are two different procedures for establishing offshore wind turbines in Denmark. Most new offshore wind farms are established according to the tendering procedure where the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) announces a politically decided site- and size-specific tender. Through the so-called “open-door procedure”, a project developer can submit an unsolicited application to establish an offshore wind farm at a site and of a size chosen by the developer.
Under the tendering procedure, the site for a future offshore wind farm is selected politically based on an area screening of Danish waters done by or on behalf of DEA and on consultations with the shore municipalities and relevant authorities. Public consultations often also held in connection with the screenings.
Under the open-door procedure, the site for an offshore wind farm is chosen by the project developer. As many of the areas identified through the screenings described above have been reserved for public tenders and cannot be applied for under the open-door procedure, it can be difficult for project developers to find suitable sites (§ 22 RE Act).

• DEA
• Municipal councils