Interconnector
Interconnector or cross-border coupling point generally refers to transfer points or lines across national borders, mainly for electricity networks, but also for gas lines. The natural gas pipeline connection between Great Britain and Belgium was named Interconnector without further ado. Trans-European networks are funded by the EU primarily in the transport sector.
European electricity market
The various national transmission system operators (TSOs) have provided transit capacities for cross-border electricity trading, mostly as three-phase high-voltage transmission , sometimes as high-voltage direct current transmission . In Germany, the power line expansion law controls the expansion of the power grid .
The land-based interconnectors are common power lines and some have existed for decades. Larger projects are used to lay submarine cables . Examples are the submarine cables NorGer and NordLink through the North Sea to connect the electricity grids of Norway and Germany, Kontek from Germany to Denmark, from there to Sweden ( Kontiskan ) and Norway ( HVDC Cross-Skagerrak ). Offshore wind farms are partly directly connected to one another, a German-Danish interconnector is called "Combined Grid Solution". Other submarine cables are NorNed between Norway and the Netherlands, Baltic Cable between Sweden and Germany and BritNed between Great Britain and the Netherlands.
Germany
According to the 2017 monitoring report by the Federal Network Agency , the transmission capacity across all German cross-border connection points was 24,125 MW (import and export capacities) in 2016. The total volume traded across the borders in the electricity exchange realized was 78.1 TWh, with imports of 13.1 TWh and exports of 65 TWh, so a German export balance of 51.9 TWh was observed in 2016.
Germany has interconnectors with Sweden, but so far none with Belgium. From a balance sheet point of view, Luxembourg is directly connected to the German electricity grid ( Vianden pumped storage plant ); this also applied to Austria until autumn 2018.
Import: Development of the average available transmission capacity (net) in MW from neighboring German countries in the years 2012 to 2018:
| NTC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| PL → D | 1,301.12 | 1,260.63 | 1,361.16 | 1,233.11 | 1,260.41 | 1,301.82 | 1,358.29 |
| CZ → D | 1,380.14 | 1,260.63 | 1,361.16 | 1,233.11 | 1,295.00 | 1,289.89 | 1,442.00 |
| DK → D | 1,334.16 | 1,192.55 | 1,054.16 | 777.95 | 731.03 | 1,026.80 | 1,465.57 |
| CH → D | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 4,000.00 | 3,888.25 |
| SE → D | 457.00 | 481.65 | 447.60 | 275.15 | 411.41 | 415.26 | 450.39 |
| NTC | Flow-based | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| NL -> D | 2,314.83 | 2,291.11 | 2,257.17 | 2,123.76 | 2,799.57 | 2,225.46 | 2,345.85 | 2,504.17 |
| FR -> D | 1,800.00 | 1,790.46 | 1,798.45 | 1,800.00 | 3,765.66 | 4,011.40 | 3,763.79 | 4,323.96 |
| AT -> D * | 4999.43 | |||||||
* Bidding zones DE / AT in October 2018
Export: Development of the average available transmission capacity (net) in MW to neighboring German countries from 2012 to 2018:
| NTC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| D → PL | 600.66 | 665.67 | 660.59 | 430.92 | 140.53 | 604.14 | 1,002.97 |
| D → CZ | 997.21 | 665.65 | 660.59 | 430.92 | 139.44 | 580.21 | 1,235.23 |
| D → DK | 1,422.47 | 1,468.68 | 1,471.46 | 1,432.42 | 1,830.73 | 1,901.86 | 1,850.68 |
| D → CH | 895.63 | 964.72 | 1,094.23 | 1,373.39 | 1,469.64 | 1,501.23 | 1,394.25 |
| D → SE | 375.72 | 312.45 | 323.25 | 158.83 | 350.61 | 248.32 | 232.39 |
| NTC | Flow-based | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | |
| D → NL | 2,276.65 | 2,220.70 | 2,231.18 | 2,026.58 | 3,264.45 | 3,080.11 | 2,917.94 | 3,212.04 |
| D → FR | 2,603.07 | 2,562.95 | 2,472.18 | 2,356.27 | 3,147.91 | 3,179.63 | 3,545.89 | 4,995.58 |
| DE → AT * | 5,051.92 | |||||||
* Bidding zones DE / AT in October 2018
The capacities made available to the electricity markets in the day-ahead market are determined in two ways in Europe: on the one hand using the "Net Transfer Capacity (NTC)" calculation and on the other hand using the "Flow-Based Market Coupling (FBMC)" algorithm.
Individual evidence
- ↑ What are border interconnectors?
- ↑ Monitoring report 2017: Electricity market - Cross-border trade and European integration. Federal Network Agency, December 13, 2017, accessed on February 24, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Monitoring report 2017: Electricity market - Developments on the electricity markets. Federal Network Agency, accessed on February 26, 2020 .
- ↑ Monitoring report 2019. Federal Network Agency, January 13, 2020, accessed on February 24, 2020 (German).