Protests against Germany’s planned SuedLink power transmission line continue

Protests continue against Germany’s planned SuedLink power transmission line, the news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Welt Online. Guntram Ziepel of the national association of citizen initiatives against SuedLink says his organisation “completely rejects the transmission line the way it is currently planned.” The association argues that SuedLink, which is meant to transfer power generated in Germany’s windy north to industrial centres in the south over hundreds of kilometres, has not been properly thought through as more wind turbines and the expected rise in the number of e-cars are set to alter the country’s energy supply and demand pattern. The protesters, who will meet in the central German town of Fulda over the weekend, prefer small and decentralised grid structures that use power produced near where it is used, the article says.
SuedLink is part of Germany’s effort to overhaul its grid capacities to cope with the rising number of intermittent renewable energy sources, a task the new economy and energy minister, Peter Altmaier, has identified as a “top priority.”

Find the article in German here.