In a bid to bring more renewable energy and greater resilience to the city of Copenhagen, the Danish government has announced plans to build nine new artificial islands as part of what will become the largest and most ambitious land reclamation project in Scandinavia. Slated to begin construction in 2022, the project, dubbed Holmene (the Islets), will comprise 3 million square meters of land and will be located just 10 kilometers south of Copenhagen. Copenhagen-based architecture and planning firm URBAN POWER designed the project with environmentally friendly targets in mind, from the creation of the biggest waste-to-energy plant in Northern Europe to improved biodiversity.

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In addition to producing fossil fuel-free energy, the nine artificial islands of Holmene will also serve as a tech hub, a flood barrier and a sports and recreation destination. Several islets and reefs will also be inaccessible to create “untouched nature” as part of a plan to improve the area’s biodiversity. The islands will be constructed from 26 million cubic meters of surplus soil sourced from the region’s subway and building projects; the soil will also be used to create natural flood barriers around the coastline and a base for a future “green belt of nature” on each island.

Key to the vision will be the focus on green technologies. Biowaste and wastewater from the region’s 1.5 million citizens will be processed in a new waste-to-energy plant and turned into clean water and biogas. Together with wind turbines and other sustainable technologies, the plant is expected to produce over 300,000 MWh of renewable energy, an amount estimated to be equivalent to the power consumption of a quarter of the Copenhagen city population.

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The Holmene project has an estimated construction cost of 425 million euros and is expected to create 380 new businesses and 12,000 jobs. The project was developed in collaboration with the consulting engineer firm COWI along with DHI-group, MOE, Aglaja and Rambøll. The environmental impact assessment starts in 2019 and the project is slated for completion in 2040.

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Images by URBAN POWER for Hvldovre Municipality