Government Could Push TenneT to Withdraw from German Market, Handelsblatt Says

TenneT, a transmission system operator, could be pushed into a withdrawal from the German market by the Government, the Handelsblatt news site learned from unrevealed Government sources.

The Government could achieve this by using the certification process, which the Federal Network Agency is currently carrying out. The Federal Ministry of Economics and the EU Commission are both involved in the process, which began in March and may take several months.

TenneT must be certified by the Agency along with the three other transmission system operators, and it could get rather unpleasant for the company if it fails to get the necessary certification.

The reason to force the company to withdraw from the market is related to the investment in development of offshore wind power.

Namely, the Federal Ministry of Economics thinks that TenneT largely contributes to the setbacks in German offshore wind development, which is considered to be one of the main components of the country’s energy transition.

The company has invested EUR 5.5 billion in connection of the wind farms in the North Sea to the mainland, which is not enough. It says that EUR 15 billion more is necessary to do the required work, but it is not capable of raising this amount on its own.

It seems that the only remedy would be a contribution from the KfW, the state development bank, whilst the north German coastal countries are already insisting that the Government should step in.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, August 13, 2012; Image: TenneT