Germany presents plan for North Sea wind power interconnections

The German government on Monday unveiled an initial plan for establishing interconnections between wind parks in the North Sea that will enable power trading with neighbouring countries and help avoid bottlenecks.

The plan was presented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and transmission system operators (TSOs) TenneT, Amprion and 50Hertz.

In the future, a new power line network will be built to connect offshore wind parks in the German waters of the North Sea with a combined capacity of 10 GW. Apart from connecting the wind farms to the German power grid, interconnections will be set up with neighbouring countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands. Thus, in times of weak demand for electricity in Germany, the excess electricity will be exported to the neighbours to avoid curtailment of German offshore wind parks. When demand is high in Germany, the international power grid will enable the import of green power from the neighbouring countries, reducing the need for fossil power plants.

Germany's economy minister Robert Habeck commented that the planned additional grid connections will enable the import of more cost-effective renewable energy to Germany and help reduce the need for curtailing electricity. The plan shows how the energy system will be transformed in close cooperation with the European neighbours, Habeck noted.

A study commissioned by the ministry showed that such an international power grid in the North Sea would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance the security of supply, ensure more efficient use of the available areas and result in considerable cost cuts.

Germany currently has 8.12 GW of offshore wind capacity in operation. As part of its efforts to reach 30 GW by the end of this decade, the Federal Network Agency has launched two tenders this year, seeking to award 7 GW in the North Sea and Baltic Sea and a further 1.8 GW in the North Sea.

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