Transmission system operator TenneT has called for the optimisation of the German offshore wind grid through an additional capacity auction and through linking future wind farms in the western German North Sea to the Dutch grid.
According to TenneT’s CEO Leo Hartman, around 660MW of installed grid connection capacity ”will be idle in the foreseeable future” in the German North Sea.
”These free resources could be allocated to offshore wind farms via an additional tendering procedure. With a view to the new goal of the Federal Government, according to which the share of renewable energies should reach 65 per cent by the year 2030, we should use such potential optimally, ” said Hartman .
In addition, TenneT is calling for future western German North Sea wind farms to be linked to the Dutch electricity grid. A cost-effective solution could be such a connection to Eemshaven, TenneT said. As this grid connection point is located directly on the coast, it would be possible to save 100 kilometres of underground cables in Germany and thus around EUR 200 million, while at the same time bypassing bottlenecks in the German electricity grid on land.
The necessary legal certainty could be achieved through a German-Dutch State Treaty, which would stipulate that German wind farms will continue to be subject to German laws and offshore liability regulations, TenneT said.
In the Netherlands, TenneT is already planning to connect to the UK via the future Ijmuiden Ver and East Anglia wind farms.
In the German North Sea, TenneT currently has ten offshore grid connection systems with a capacity of 5,332MW. The installed offshore wind farm capacity currently stands at 4,716MW.
By the end of 2023, TenneT will complete three additional connection systems which will increase the capacity in the German North Sea to 8,032MW.
By 2027, the capacity is expected to reach 11GW through three additional connections.