Start for construction of the Südostlink direct current line

22.03.2023

Source: Energy & Management Powernews

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Green Party) symbolically started the construction of the first converter for the direct current line Südostlink of transmission system operator 50 Hertz.

With a groundbreaking ceremony at the Wolmirstedt substation near Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), Federal Minister Robert Habeck (Green Party) has given the symbolic starting signal for the construction of the first converter for the direct current line Südostlink together with the transmission system operator 50 Hertz on March 21, 2023. In the future, the plant will be able to convert up to 2,000 MW of the alternating current coming from the north into direct current, which will then be transported to the south with low losses and good controllability with the help of the Südostlink power line.

On this occasion, Robert Habeck said: "To achieve climate neutrality in the power sector, we need many kilometers of additional power grids within the next two decades." In order for these to be built, he said, planning and approvals need to be fast-tracked. "The converter in Wolmirstedt was approved by the Börde district in seven months and is expected to be completed as early as 2025. The plant would thus be a model also for other grid expansion projects," Habeck hoped.

Saxony-Anhalt ahead in energy transition

Saxony-Anhalt's Minister President Reiner Haseloff (CDU) praised: "In Saxony-Anhalt, the energy transition is not an empty phrase, but reality." He said his state was among the top three per capita nationwide in both wind and solar power generation. Stefan Kapferer, chairman of the 50 Hertz management board, called the project's approval time exemplary. "I wish the project that we maintain this momentum in all further planning and approval steps and during construction," Kapferer said.

The Südostlink direct current line is being built in cooperation with the transmission system operator Tennet and is intended to reliably transport large amounts of electricity from onshore wind farms in the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as wind farms in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, to southern Germany. The roughly 540-kilometer DC link will then connect Wolmirstedt in Saxony-Anhalt and Landshut in Bavaria.

Network expansion as the backbone of the energy turnaround

The expansion of electricity grids is necessary at all levels, from major electricity highways from northern to southern Germany to the distribution grids that bring electricity to individual consumers on site, the ministry explained. To cope with this over the next two decades, planning and approval procedures would be significantly accelerated.

To this end, a large number of new legal regulations and reforms were launched last year, such as the July 2022 Energy Emergency Measures Package, to ensure that grid operators align their planning with the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality in 2045. In the case of transmission networks, the bundling requirement was strengthened and a determination of preference areas was introduced; in addition, the purely electronic interpretation of documents for procedures under the Network Expansion Acceleration Act (NABEG) was made possible and preliminary work and an early start to construction were facilitated. In addition, there would be improved opportunities for external project managers to participate.


Status of projects from the Federal Requirements Plan Act and the Energy Line Expansion Act as of the end of 2022 Click on the image to enlarge Source: BMWK

Also a number of legal adjustments in the Federal Requirements Plan Act, Energy Industry Act and Grid Expansion Acceleration Act by the EnSiG 3.0 in October 2022 shortened the procedures for power grid expansion, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK) reported. Finally, the EU Emergency Regulation, which has already been implemented in national law in a very short time, offers the opportunity for further simplifications and accelerations.

The ministry will develop a "Roadmap System Stability" with broad industry participation. Due to the decline in conventional power plants as a result of the nuclear power and coal phase-out, this is intended to ensure that the power supply remains secure thanks to renewable energies and other facilities such as storage options, grid resources or flexible consumers.

Approve a further 2,000 km of grid expansion by the end of 2024

For the coming years, the Network Development Plan for Electricity (NEP Strom) will be submitted in a first draft by the four German transmission system operators on March 22, 2023, and will then be subject to public consultation. The Federal Network Agency is accelerating the procedures wherever possible, promised its president Klaus Müller. "We plan to issue construction permits for well over 2,000 kilometers of lines by the end of 2024," he said. The total length of all 119 grid expansion projects currently stands at 13,679 km (as of Q4/22). Of these, 1,930 km are in operation, 1,519 km are approved and before or under construction, 5,010 km are in or before the plan approval procedure or notification procedure, 1,074 km are in the regional planning procedure or federal sectoral planning procedure, and 4,146 km are before the approval procedure.

Author: Susanne Harmsen