Local opposition rejects Energinet’s explanations for overhead power lines

Despite repeated public meetings and outreach efforts by Energinet, local residents and municipal politicians in southern Zealand remain unconvinced by the state-owned grid operator’s insistence that new high-voltage power lines must run on 44-meter pylons rather than underground.

Energinet, which manages Denmark’s electrical infrastructure, has held citizen meetings with PowerPoint presentations for hundreds of attendees and dispatched an information trailer to Haslev, Vordingborg, and Næstved to “meet citizens at eye level and invite dialogue on the need for more electrical infrastructure in Denmark.” The lines are intended to carry green power north from Lolland and Falster toward Copenhagen.

Yet the explanations have failed to sway critics. Henrik Backteman Larsen, chair of the national association Luftledninger Nej Tak and a resident of Faxe Municipality, dismisses Energinet’s arguments. “It’s just something they’re saying,” he told DR. “The more we’ve dug into this, the more their arguments have fallen apart.”

“This case should have been presented far more clearly and transparently,” Backteman Larsen added. “In a normal process, alternatives would have been laid out for us, and I consider that pretty essential when people ultimately have to sacrifice their homes, properties, and surroundings.”

According to Energinet, only 30 percent of the route from Lolland toward Copenhagen can be buried due to technical constraints. The operator warns that underground 400 kV cables increase the risk of faults leading to power outages, take longer to repair than overhead lines, and degrade voltage quality by amplifying electrical noise—potentially damaging consumer and industrial equipment.

Local governments have pushed back. Vordingborg, Næstved, and Faxe municipalities have repeatedly demanded underground cabling in formal responses to Energinet. Last week, Faxe’s city council wrote that “we are aware the technology for burial exists” and urged “a more nuanced assessment of the possibility of cable laying.”

Faxe, where the most residents face expropriation due to the pylons’ proximity, has seen particularly strong resistance. Mayor Mikkel Dam of the Liberal Alliance party calls the prioritization of underground cables nearer to Copenhagen “an confirmation of an imbalance in the national energy infrastructure expansion.”

“We urgently need answers on why a larger share of the route through our municipality can’t be buried,” Dam said. “And we want concrete answers on why burial is prioritized further north, because that directly affects how much can be buried in our stretch.”