“Transmission grid at its limits“

The German power grid urgently needs to be expanded, as it was at times stretched to its limits during the past winter, said transmission grid operator Amprion in a press release. The reasons were unscheduled plant overhauls in France and historic lows in hydro power plants in Austria and Switzerland which led to “extremely high” needs to transport power in Amprion’s control area. Amprion says it is investing record sums into grid expansion: “In 2016, we invested more than ever before to advance the energy transition,” said Hans-Jürgen Brick, commercial managing director at Amprion. In 2016, the company invested 567 million euros, and plans to invest another 660 million euros this year.

Find the Amprion press release in German here.

For background read the CLEW factsheet Germany's electricity grid stable amid energy transition and the CLEW dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid.