In terms of bad timing, it couldn’t have been worse – as Denmark was accepting the EU presidency and heralding a drive for “green growth”, Danish wind power company Vestas announced it was cutting 2335 jobs.

This left Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt using her presidency launch speech to answer questions on how much of a blow the Vestas announcement was to the country's clean energy ambitions.

“This feels today like an enormous setback,” she said, “but this setback should not make us change our strategy. We need to be world leaders in energy efficiency, new technologies, green technologies, because we think it is not only good for the environment but it is also good business for Europe.”

European Commission president Manuel Barroso jumped in to back Thorning-Schmidt: “To be frank, it’s not only this field we are seeing losses of workers. So most likely, it would be a reflection of the overall crisis of Europe. The reason behind the crisis in Europe is not because of the investment in green technology.”

Despite the Vestas distraction, Denmark’s six-month tenure at the helm of the presidency should indeed be good news for the renewable energy industry in Europe.

Martin Lindgreen, head of department at Denmark’s ministry of climate, energy and building, has said that the Danish presidency will result in “milestones being defined or approaches sought for later agreements on renewables and energy efficiency, oil and gas and carbon capture and storage”.

Denmark has bold plans for CCS, a Smart Grid and, of course, wind power, and is making headway in all these areas.

If renewable power needs a rallying call, no-one can shout loudest than the Danes, because nothing convinces more than leading by example - and the Danish blueprint for renewable growth has few peers.