The Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has cleared the electricity network development plan of Germany’s four transmission system operators, which proposes to Parliament 2,982.6 miles (4,800 kilometers) of new lines through 2045.
The plan also seeks to reinforce 1,553.4 miles (2,500 km) of existing lines that are not in the Federal Requirements Plan, the plan approved by lawmakers.
The Bundesnetzagentur endorsed five new high-voltage direct-current transmission lines in the operators’ plan, each with a capacity of two gigawatts (GW): DC32 from Schleswig-Holstein to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, DC35 from Lower Saxony to Hesse, DC40 from Lower Saxony to Saxony, DC41 from Lower Saxony to Baden-Württemberg and DC42 from Schleswig-Holstein to Baden-Württemberg.
“In addition, the network development plan includes 116 alternating-current transmission lines that are not in the current Federal Requirements Plan”, the agency said in a news release.
Later in the consultation period for the operators’ plan, alternating current line project P540 was submitted for Bavaria after the Bundesnetzagentur's calculations showed that additional transmission capacity was needed to supply the state, the press release said. P540 has now been endorsed by the Bundesnetzagentur.
The operators’ plan only specifies where a line starts and ends but not where it will run.
While the Electricity Network Development Plan is drawn up by the operators every two years, the latest plan is the first to present “the electricity network we need to complete the energy transition”, Bundesnetzagentur President Klaus Müller said in a statement.
The plan outlines 35 additional projects in the Baltic and North Seas to be built by 2045 to link offshore wind farms with the onshore grid. These projects aim to fulfill the 70 gigawatts of offshore capacity specified under the Offshore Wind Energy Act to be connected to the mainland.
While the plan identifies the points on the mainland where power transmitted from the offshore wind farms can best be fed into the grid, the sites where the offshore-to-onshore lines will run will be decided by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur said.
After confirmation by the Bundesnetzagentur, the plan submitted by the operators is then used, alongside a Budnesnetzagentur environmental report, by lawmakers to draw up the Federal Requirements Plan. Lawmakers can make the projects outlined in the operators’ plan binding by including them in the Federal Requirements Plan, after which detailed planning processes can start, the agency said.
Growth in Renewables
The Bundesnetzagentur earlier reported Germany’s installed renewables capacity is expected to have risen 17 GW to just under 170 GW last year. That was up 12 percent compared to 2022 mainly on solar and wind growth, based on preliminary figures; data for December 2023 was estimated.
The country’s solar capacity grew 14.1 GW to 81.7 GW in 2023, nearly double the growth in the sector in 2022. “This was due to numerous private solar installations and a larger increase in ground-mounted and commercial rooftop solar capacity”, the Bundesnetzagentur said in a press release January 5.
Onshore wind capacity increased to 60.9 GW, meaning Germany needs to add 7.7 GW each year to meet the nation’s target of 115 GW by 2030. “In 2023, 80 percent more approvals were issued for onshore wind farms than in the previous year”, the Bundesnetzagentur said. “These approvals were for a total capacity of about 8 GW, which is expected to be implemented in the coming years”.
Offshore wind capacity climbed 0.3 GW to 8.5 GW with one farm put onstream, the 27-turbine Arcadis Ost I in the Baltic Sea.
While growing only 0.12 GW, biomass capacity expansion nearly doubled the growth in 2022. Biomass capacity in Germany has now reached 9.0 GW, the Bundesnetzagentur said.
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