Online news agency Clean Energy Wire reports that following several years of delays, construction of a key component of Germany’s grid infrastructure has started in the southern state of Bavaria. The SuedOstLink connection built by grid operator TenneT will link the economic powerhouse with northern and eastern Germany. With its capacity of 2 GW, it is intended primarily for the transport of renewable electricity, mainly offshore wind.
“Step by step, we’re making progress towards climate neutrality in the power sector,” commented the government’s maritime economy co-ordinator Dieter Janecek. In the next two decades, the country would need thousands of kilometres of new power lines “and these have to be planned, licensed and built quickly,” Janecek added.
The converter of SuedOstLink, built near Landshut, marks the end point of a 540 km transmission line. It will service several nearby industry centres, including Munich and Ingolstadt.
About 13 700 km of new power lines spread over 120 individual projects are currently being planned or constructed in the country, according to the economy andclimate action ministry (BMWK). The expansion of the country’s power grid has stalled for several years, primarily owing to strong resistance from local residents and other interest groups that have held up the implementation of the project with lawsuits and protests. Resistance to the infrastructure project has been especially fierce in Bavaria, with the state government for a long time insisting that the main transmission line should be built outside its own territory. This is despite Bavaria’s lack of significant wind power production capacity, meaning the state depends on supply from other states in the north that have made more progress in renewables expansion.
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