Good morning and thank you for the warm Houston welcome. And a special thanks to CERAWeek and the Greater Houston Partnership for hosting this event and inviting me to be part of it.

It is great to be back in Houston – actually, Houston is a City I once called home. My family lived here for period when I was very small. I went to school at Clear Lake City Elementary which I understand is just a 30 min drive, southeast of here and I have many fond memories of my time here.

Houston is widely recognized as the energy capital of the World.

The oil & gas presence is very visible here but, so is the drive for innovation in the energy sector and the desire to diversify - not only the energy system but, also the economy of the greater Houston area.

Global energy demand is increasing and at the same time, the global energy sector is undergoing a period of rapid transformation with a growing demand for clean energy to decarbonize society. Several U.S. states have announced aggressive goals to deploy renewable energy with wind and solar; they are expected to account for 64 percent of new capacity additions in 2019.

Danish experience shows that this transformation can happen without compromising on electricity prices or reliability.

CERAWeek is an important opportunity to bring global energy leaders together to discuss how innovations in energy can reshape the future of the energy sector. And it is extremely positive to see so many thought-leaders and decisionmakers here - who are committed to this transformation.

We are at CERAWeek to discuss and gain insight into how the future of energy may look. There can be no doubt that renewables will play a significant role in that future.

In Denmark, we began a transition from a fossil-based economy to a renewable based economy already in the early 1970’s.

At that time, Denmark was fully dependent on imported fossil fuels and was hit hard, harder than most nations by the global oil crisis of ‘73.

The opportunity that arose out of this critical situation was a political window that enabled us to change our direction as a country – to become energy independent.

We decided to harness domestic energy sources to produce renewable energy such as biogas, geothermal energy and more than anything else wind energy.

We will always be a Viking nation but, today we are also a Wind nation.

Denmark has managed during this energy transition to significantly reduce its carbon emissions and lower gross energy consumption, and at the same time achieve decades of economic growth.

As a nation, we have created an effective green energy sector that has made the country cleaner and more climate-friendly but also richer; providing greater welfare, growth and jobs.

Today, employment in our green energy sector is higher than the rest of the labor market actually, by a factor of six to one. Transitioning to a green economy is not only good for our planet and people, it is also good business. 

I think it is fair to say, that today Denmark is a global leader in renewable energy. We proudly hold the world record for the greatest share of wind power in our energy system – reaching more than 40% last year.

Through continued political support of the decision taken in the 1970’s, Denmark is now on the path to becoming 100% renewable by 2050.

Like Denmark, Texas is a leader in wind. And has been, and remains, at the forefront of the wind energy revolution that is taking place here in the US.

Texas today generates more than a quarter of all wind energy in the United States and does it with more than 13,000 wind turbines – nearly one-third of which are running on Danish-developed technology.

Thanks to the innovations in wind energy driven by Texas and Denmark, prices for land-based wind power are now lower than power from coal, oil, hydro and nuclear energy.

This positive development has occurred in just the last year or two.

Offshore wind has also proven itself to be cost competitive. Recently announced projects off the coast of New England – both by Danish developers – are testament to this. These clean energy projects are expected to generate multi-million-dollar savings for electricity consumers.

Renewable energy in general and wind power in particular, is no longer just a politically driven agenda. The economic arguments speak for themselves and are accelerating the transformation of the energy sector to a sustainable one.  

Denmark certainly demonstrates this and as you will now hear from Mr. Thomas Brostrom from Oersted; today our energy companies are now successfully disrupting themselves, as well.

Thank you.