Holsted Varmeværk in South Jutland has been refused permission to connect a wind turbine directly to its district heating plant, even though a similar setup in Hvide Sande keeps heating bills there roughly a tenth of Holsted’s.
According to reporting by DR on November 11, 2026, the plant’s board has applied repeatedly to Energistyrelsen and been turned down each time. Board chairman Jens Brodersen told DR the refusals mean customers keep paying some of the highest district heating prices in the country.
DR cites Forsyningstilsynet’s latest statistics, dated August 31, 2026, showing that a standard 130 square meter house in Holsted pays 36,842 kroner a year for district heating. In Hvide Sande, where three turbines stand about 900 meters from the heating plant and feed it directly, the same standard house pays 3,478 kroner a year.
Why Holsted cannot copy the Hvide Sande model
Holsted’s plant currently runs mainly on gas and biogas, which Brodersen told DR is pushing the price up. He wants a turbine on a nearby solar field about 300 meters from the plant, supplying power directly and bypassing the public grid. Per DR, that would cut the price roughly in half, and a separate application for a turbine beside the plant was also refused.
Hvide Sande bought its turbines in 2018 and 2019, DR reports, and operations manager Morten Rauhe says they have been decisive for the price. The law has since been tightened in several respects. Turbines may no longer be placed as far from a plant, and routing electricity around the main grid is no longer possible.
Energistyrelsen states on ens.dk that a direct line between a generating plant and a consumer requires a permit under section 23 of the Electricity Supply Act. Dansk Fjernvarme noted in 2023 that a permit requires one of the plants to be new, and the direct line to be shorter than the distance to the collective grid.
Industry and minister point to the grid plan
Chief consultant Michael Schrøder of the trade body Dansk Fjernvarme told DR that many heating plants are examining the same solution and being blocked. He argues the rules have become too narrow, and that easing them could relieve the national need for more grid capacity. Dansk Fjernvarme had already urged the agency and ministry to revisit the direct-line rules in 2025.
Kenneth Løvenskjold Andreasen, a lawyer and PhD student in climate and energy law at the University of Southern Denmark, also told DR the rules should be loosened. He helped approve the Hvide Sande turbines years ago. Climate, energy and supply minister Samira Nawa of Radikale Venstre wrote to DR that the ministry is examining the existing frameworks for direct lines, as agreed in the emergency plan for the electricity grid.
That plan, adopted by Folketinget as L 23, took effect on October 12, 2026, according to a summary published by Lovguiden. The political agreement published by the Climate, Energy and Supply Ministry on October 1, 2026 says frameworks for co-location and direct lines will be revisited to relieve the collective grid.
What the heating rules mean for internationals renting or owning in Denmark
District heating, fjernvarme, is supplied by local plants, and households connected to one cannot shop around for a cheaper heat supplier. That is why the price gap between Holsted and Hvide Sande is decided by plant-level investment rules, not by consumer choice. Forsyningstilsynet, the Danish Utility Regulator, publishes the comparison figures DR used.
For foreign residents, this means the address matters more than the contract when it comes to heating costs, a point that also shapes the wider cost of living. Holsted is building a heat pump plant that DR reports will be finished in about 18 months and will lower prices, though not to Hvide Sande levels. No change to the direct-line rules has been decided, and the ministry says only that the frameworks are being examined.
