Project Years behind schedule: Habeck gives the starting signal for north-south-streamtrasse
Project Years behind schedule: Habeck gives the starting signal for north-south-streamtrasse
Project Years behind schedule: Habeck gives the starting signal for north-south-streamtrasse
27.07.2023, 1:06 pm
The project is essential for the success of the energy transition - and it now takes an important hurdle. However, the construction of the north-south-current route takes place by years late. Minister of Economics Habeck complains about the appointment on site. And it promises significantly more speed.
The construction of the planned north-south-streamtrasse Suedlink is progressing: Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck gave the starting signal for the construction of the first of four converters for the management in Lingarten in Baden-Württemberg with the transmission system operator TransnetBW.
converters convert equally into alternating current. A alternating current comes from household sockets, in which the voltage with transformers can be changed quite easily. For the long path from the north to the south of Germany, however, direct current is used, since less energy is lost. Suedlink should actually be completed in 2022. Now it will be targeted in 2028. So far, just 17 kilometers of the planned 700 kilometer route from Schleswig-Holstein to Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria have been approved. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the construction on the initial sections of the line should begin in the current year, on the remaining sections by the end of 2025.
"This is a big, important day for the energy transition," said Habeck in Lingarten. "Actually, the whole thing should be finished." The route is finally being built six years too late, which is unacceptable. In the future, planning time should be halved, which is also possible on the basis of the experience.
Due to the connection to the Stromtrasse Nordlink, electricity from Norwegian hydropower can also flow to Germany if it is needed. The transmission system operator Tennet is responsible for the construction of the northern section. According to the ministry, thousands of kilometers of additional power grids are necessary in the next two decades. The Federal Government has already launched many acceleration measures and legal relief, more is planned.
"The network expansion is one of the central factors for the success of the energy transition," emphasized the CEO of the energy supplier EnBW, Andreas Schell. Suedlink is one of the most important individual projects. Without the timely expansion of the transmission networks, the exit from the coal will not work as planned. The network expansion must be significantly accelerated, the lead at Suedlink was far too long.
The network expansion is necessary because renewable energies from wind and sun are subject to regional fluctuations in contrast to nuclear and coal stream. According to the ministry, around 14,000 electricity-road kilometers will be rebuilt throughout Germany in 119 projects. Around 2000 kilometers of which are already fully in operation. Around 3400 kilometers are not yet in the approval process, 1500 kilometers in the spatial order or federal planning process, 5400 kilometers are in the planning approval, about 1500 kilometers are under construction.