“Dispute over billions lets tensions rise among grid operators”

German transmission grid operators (TSO) are in a dispute about the distribution of costs for re-dispatch measures to stabilise the German power grid, writes Jürgen Flauger in Handelsblatt. TenneT and 50Hertz, who manage Germany’s windy north, carry out most measures and shoulder the bulk of the costs, call for uniform grid fees for the whole of Germany. They say this will “fairly distribute the costs of the Energiewende”, according to a TenneT position paper, seen by Handelsblatt. So far, electricity customers in their control area pay substantially higher fees than those in southern Germany. Amprion and TransnetBW, the other two TSOs, reject the proposal. They claim, among other things, that the energy intensive industry customers in their control area would suffer from higher costs. The federal economy ministry told Handelsblatt that there are plans to amend the Energy Industry Act and introduce “a legal basis for the introduction of nationwide uniform transmission grid fees” this autumn.

Find the article in German here and the opinion piece in German here (both behind paywall).

Find background information in the CLEW factsheet Re-dispatch costs in the German power grid.