Bayernwerk launches grid initiative for more feed-in capacity

20.03.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Bayernwerk Netz has launched a pilot project in Lower Bavaria for the bundled feed-in of green energy. The "feed-in socket" is intended to use grid capacities more efficiently.

With the ground-breaking ceremony on March 19 in the district of Dingolfing-Landau, Bayernwerk Netz, together with LEW Verteilnetz (LVN) and with the support of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, has launched a pilot project for faster grid connection of renewable energies. The "feed-in socket" concept is intended to bundle grid connections for decentralized generation plants in order to avoid bottlenecks and improve planning security for investors.

According to Bayernwerk grid manager Egon Westphal, the initiative offers three main advantages: simpler connection to existing capacities, more efficient grid utilization thanks to standardized procedures and accelerated implementation of new projects. On the first day of the tender, 90 percent of the connection capacity of 80 MW had already been allocated. In total, requests for 230 MW were received, meaning that the pilot project was almost three times oversubscribed. Four projects were awarded the contract and are to be implemented in the districts of Dingolfing-Landau and Landshut.

Coordinated grid expansion as the key to the energy transition

Tobias Gotthardt (Freie Wähler), State Secretary in the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, emphasized the relevance of such concepts for the ongoing expansion of renewable energies in Bavaria. The south-western federal state has the largest increase in solar energy in Germany in particular, making targeted grid expansion necessary. The Lower Bavarian "feed-in socket" should help to avoid long waiting times and expensive grid connection routes.

Westphal sees the model as a paradigm shift in which grid capacities are made available in a targeted manner and project developers can apply for them. The structured approach could speed up grid connection and make it more economical. Bayernwerk's grid subsidiary is planning to develop the concept further and expand it to other regions.

The feed-in socket should help to efficiently feed more regionally generated green electricity into the grid. Powerful transformers in substations connect the medium-voltage grid with the high-voltage grid and thus improve the regional supply of renewable energy. Bayernwerk sees this as a decisive step towards implementing the energy transition in Bavaria.

A current example from the north of Bavaria illustrates this problem: four wind turbines were to be built in the Lower Franconian communities of Altertheim and Neubrunn in the district of Würzburg, but delays in the grid connection prevented their implementation. The responsible citizens' energy cooperative and a participating company had to conduct lengthy negotiations with the grid operator before a solution was found. The project could only be continued once a grid connection agreement had been presented.

Author: Davina Spohn