New German climate ministry says grid expansion years behind schedule
Clean Energy Wire
The conversion and expansion of Germany’s power grid is going “nowhere as fast as necessary for the transformation,” the new economy and climate ministry (BMWK) has found in its opening stock take of the state of the energy transition and emission reduction progress. There is a threat of considerable delays of several years in the building of the four high-speed transmission grid connections, which are central to the future electricity system, the ministry said. Because drawn-out procedures are often to blame for this delay, the ministry plans to make both legal amendments, improve expansion controlling, and make changes to the federal planning procedures where possible. “As early as 2022, we will add further transmission lines that are required to achieve the new climate protection targets, to the federal grid demand plan (Bundesbedarfsplan),” the BMWK writes.
Tim Meyerjürgens, COO of transmission grid operator TenneT, said there are enough levers to implement modern, efficient planning and approval procedures - such as a standardisation of species protection and a closer dovetailing of regional planning. “The goal must be to make planning as fast as construction,” he said.
