Our time working with wind has taught us this: nothing changes when you’re standing still.
About
The wind powers our lives and pushes us forward. It is our past flowing into our present – and fueling our future.
It all began back in 1977 in Hobro, Denmark. Electrician Ove Rasmussen, the father of Jens and Søren Rasmussen, installed a rebuilt Riisager wind turbine on the family farm. The wind turbine was connected to the grid, an idea that struck Ove when he visited Torgny Møller in Vrinners, Central Jutland, who used this type of turbine to supply his own home with power.
“At that time, there was a lot of talk about using renewables, but not much action. And nothing happens if all we do is keep talking,” said Ove Rasmussen in an interview for the book Vindmøller i Skjellerup 1904 - 1977.
A shared passion for wind power
Casual conversation at the family dinner table often focused on the operation and technical aspects of wind turbines. Meanwhile, Ove Rasmussen became involved in establishing the green energy organization “Danmarks Vindmølleforening” in 1979. You could say that Jens and Søren Rasmussen grew up together with the wind industry.
Little surprise, then, that the brothers both chose to follow in their father’s footsteps. Søren Rasmussen was only 18 years old when he invested in his first agriculture project. He subsequently completed training in the field of agriculture, and in 1997, he purchased Frandsbjerg to expand his hog-farming business.
Jens Rasmussen trained as an electrician and set up his own consulting business in 1999. One of his first projects was to build a platform for a NEG Micon 750. His company became the first to integrate the transformer into the wind turbine. “I bought my first wind turbine in Aalbæk, near Skagen, back in 1999 with my hard-earned salary as an electrician’s apprentice. It was a huge investment for me back then, because it would take five years for the wind turbine to pay for itself – and what if it only lasted three years? As it turns out, I still have it, and it’s still running to this day. So I’m quite satisfied with that investment,” says Jens with a smile.
From 1996 to 2001, Jens, Søren and their father Ove invested in 12 Danish wind turbines. At the time, all were hard at work in their respective jobs: Jens was expanding his consulting business with more than 20 employees, and Søren was busy on the farm. However, he could not let go of the idea that wind turbines would make a good fit for his growing investment portfolio. “Back in 2003, I actually went on a 24-hour trip to a wind farm near Berlin in Germany. I went to take a look at three 2 MW Vestas wind turbines. They were for sale at a great price, so I called my dad and brother to suggest we buy one each. They each said ‘no thank you’. They probably thought I was crazy to want to do business with wind turbines abroad,” Søren explains. But Søren couldn’t let go of his dream – and 48 hours later, his bank gave him the green light to buy all three himself. Meanwhile, brother Jens was already regretting his decision, so Søren let him buy one of the turbines, which he still owns today. The purchase of these three turbines was the beginning of Eurowind Energy.
“The wind industry grew from grassroots movements and idealism, but it was never about that for us. From day one, we simply saw wind turbines as a way to produce energy – naturally.”
The German market
The two brothers got in touch with lawyer Jakob Kortbæk, who had spent many years arranging the sale and purchase of wind turbines on the German market. They had great chemistry and a shared vision of business. Together, they established Eurowind Energy in 2006 with a focus on the German market, where wind turbines were cheaper to buy than in Denmark. By entering the German market, Jens, Søren and Jakob opened up a new route for Danish investors to invest in wind turbines in Germany – as in Denmark, acquiring the emissions rights to buy German wind turbines could be written off as tax depreciation.
“It was definitely a turning point for Eurowind Energy: we went from being a buyer in Denmark to a developer, too.”
From 2006 to 2009, the trio traveled around Germany buying German wind turbines. Initially, they made sure all three of them had visited each site to check out the wind conditions before signing on the dotted line. “We spent hours on the German autobahn discussing wind turbines. Focusing on Germany was a risk, but not waiting for the Danish market to catch up is one of the main reasons we’re so strong today. At the same time, our experience in Denmark helped us scale up faster in Germany,” Jens explains.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, changes in the political landscape saw a growing focus on climate change and renewable energy. The team entered the Danish market properly in 2008-2009, with Søren’s network in the agricultural sector as a driving force. “It was definitely a turning point for Eurowind Energy: we went from being a buyer in Denmark to a developer, too. The first person we hired in Denmark was a farmer, and we’ve since recruited many more former farmers to our Danish team, as it’s usually farmers who keep wind turbines on their land,” Søren explains.
In 2009, when Jens returned to Denmark to become CEO of Eurowind Energy, the company had moved from its premises on an old cookie factory to the current HQ in Hobro – a location that already had room to accommodate almost 100 employees. Jens elaborates: “There were only around ten of us in the beginning, but we were soon doing so well that we could hire more great people to negotiate land leasing agreements and obtain the necessary building permits – everything you need to get wind projects approved. Things kept moving from there, and we expanded our business to Poland in 2010 and Romania in 2011.”
“From 2009 to 2016, we doubled the size of our building, and we expect to keep growing. In 2016, we opened our Portuguese office, with a focus on developing of PV projects in southern Europe, and started doing business in Italy and Spain, too. We also set up in Sweden in 2016 and acquired a bigger development portfolio. In 2018, we became co-owners of French wind developer VENTELYS Energies Partagées. We entered the Bulgarian market in 2019, but it was only in 2021 that we established our Bulgarian entity, EURA Energy AD, together with Renalfa AD.”
“For us, renewable energy has never been ‘alternative’. It’s the other forms of energy that are the alternatives.”
Eurowind Energy merged with Eniig Renewables in 2019, enabling the company to grow even further. It expanded its activities into the UK in 2019 and acquired the German wind developer, Windenergie Wenger-Rosenau GmbH & Co. KG, in the same year.
It also acquired SE Blue Renewables from PFA and Norlys, which then had 184 MW in operation, and the Overgaard Wind Park project, consisting of 26 wind turbines.
In 2020, Norlys and Eurowind Energy combined their efforts to establish Norlys Energy Trading, a European powerhouse for commercial energy trading. Eurowind Energy also opened its office in Slovakia that year.
In 2021, Eurowind Energy established the American subsidiary, Eurowind Energy USA LLC, with former Country Manager for Denmark, Bo Schøler, set to become its president. The company also entered the Finnish market, opening its office in Helsinki that year.
According to Jens and Søren, the journey is far from over: “The wind industry grew from grassroots movements and idealism, but it was never about that for us. From day one, we simply saw wind turbines as a way to produce energy – naturally. A natural approach that could be good business, too. For many years, we heard politicians say we couldn’t afford the green transition, and then, just a few years later, we found out we can’t afford not to,” says Søren. Jens adds: “For us, renewable energy has never been ‘alternative’. It’s the other forms of energy that are the alternatives. Our time working with wind has taught us a lot – primarily that nothing changes when you’re standing still. Over the years, we’ve built a strong culture with a skilled team. Our potential for growth will never be limited by capital, as long as we have these human resources to work with.”
Our overall vision is clear: we want to play a key role in our society’s future energy supply. The green transition is based on a focused and committed effort to develop, build, operate, and optimize renewable energy. At the same time, we hope to entrench new technical solutions in the field of renewable energy (PtX technologies) in our energy parks.
Mission statement
Our mission statement shapes and defines what we do every single day.
Discover our values
A partnership for the future
Eurowind Energy is in an associated partnership (50%) with Norlys.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Our focus as a company is on pioneering solutions to the power supply challenges of the future.
We aim to improve quality of life for everyone – as creating a planet powered by renewable energy provides a cleaner and better future for us all. Our CSR is a key aspect of what we do and contributes to the core values that influence our work and objectives on a daily basis.
Corporate social responsibility
Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board: Gert Vinther Jørgensen
Deputy Chairman: Søren Rasmussen
Deputy Chairman: Mads Brøgger
Board Member: Søren Nørgaard
Board Member: Bo Lynge Rydahl
Board Member: Klaus Steen Mortensen
Board Member: Jakob Kierkegaard Kortbæk