50Hertz to Invest Big in German Power Grid Expansion

50Hertz plans to invest billions of euros by 2023 to bring offshore wind power from Germany’s north, which is not quite industrialised, to the country’s south, which is very much industrialised but also powered by nuclear energy.

Along with improvement and expansion of German onshore electrical network, the transmission system operator also plans to build several offshore wind power transmission projects.

50Hertz’s South-East DC Passage project, which will connect German north and south, is worth EUR 1 billion and is scheduled to be completed by 2022.

Altogether, 50Hertz’s projects planned for the next decade comprise 1,000 km of long-distance power lines and the construction of the first European international offshore power grid. The EUR 300 million international offshore project would allow power exchange between Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

“Scandinavia has vast hydropower storage and can export when the wind here does not blow or the sun does not shine. But when the wind blows here, power can be exported,” Boris Schucht, Chief Executive Officer of 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, told Reuters.

The company’s planned transmission system investment for this year amounts to EUR 400-500 million. “Our target is to build about 100 km a year of the grid expansion that Germany needs to integrate renewable power,” Mr Schucht said.