Source: Energy & Management Powernews, October 31 2022
The first 51 kilometers of the total 185-kilometer replacement of the East Bavarian Ring are now in operation as the first section. Tennet speaks of a project success.
Just recently, the European Investment Bank (EIB) provided Tennet with 450 million euros as a priority loan for the replacement construction of the East Bavarian Ring power line. Now the Bayreuth transmission system operator announces the official start-up of the first, 51-kilometer-long section between the Upper Franconian substations in Redwitz and Mechlenreuth.
Already one year after approval, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) was able to press the symbolic start button on October 27. He was joined by Stefan Wenzel (Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics), Tim Meyerjürgens (Tennet) and Egon Westphal (Bayernwerk).
With a planning, approval and construction phase of around five years in total, Tennet considers the first, northern part of the Eastern Bavarian Ring to be a model for grid expansion. COO Tim Meyerjürgens explained, "We also need this speed, pragmatism and acceptance for our other nine grid expansion projects in Bavaria, so that we can supply ourselves and our industrial sites with affordable, green electricity and make ourselves independent of fossil fuels." The prompt implementation of the East Bavarian Ring is thanks to the possibility of early start of construction in parallel with the approval process, Meyerjürgens said.
To explain: the transmission system operator was already allowed to start work on selected mast locations in the section between Redwitz and Mechlenreuth in June last year before the actual approval in the planning approval process. This enabled the approval of a so-called early start of construction by the responsible approval authority. After the planning approval decision in November 2021, construction work could then also continue at all remaining pylon locations.
East Bavarian Ring at a glance
The East Bavarian Ring is an approximately 185-kilometer-long extra-high voltage line between the Redwitz - Mechlenreuth - Etzenricht - Schwandorf substations. The existing 220/380 kV overhead line will be reinforced to 380 kV as a new replacement. The plans for the new East Bavarian Ring are largely based on the route of the existing line. After commissioning of the new construction, it will be dismantled.
Individual line sections of the new Eastern Bavarian Ring are jointly owned by Tennet and Bayernwerk Netz. The grid expansion project is divided into four planning sections. For each section, a separate approval process takes place at the responsible district government.
The section between Redwitz and Mechlenreuth was already approved by the Government of Upper Franconia in November 2021 and was now the first to go into operation. After the planning approval decision for the section between Etzenricht and Schwandorf in August 2022, this section is currently under construction. The two planning sections between the Mechlenreuth and Etzenricht substations are still in the planning approval process. Tennet is expected to receive the planning approval decisions for the two sections by the fall of next year.
The entire new replacement line is to be completed by the fall of 2025. The dismantling of the existing line is to be completed one year later, in the fall of 2026.
Author: Davina Spohn
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