South link
 
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Line sections of Suedlink |
Suedlink (also found as SüdLink or Südlink) is the name of a corridor planned by the transmission system operators TenneT TSO and TransnetBW for the construction of high-voltage direct current transmission lines (HVDC) as part of the Network Development Plan (NEP) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among other things, they are supposed to bring the electrical energy obtained primarily from wind energy in the north of the Federal Republic to the southern regions of Germany.
history
Since the network development plan 2012, the transmission system operators have been considering high-voltage direct current transmission in north-south direction in Germany. The network development plans 2013, 2014 and 2030 (2017) have updated and specified the considerations.
The Federal Network Agency has confirmed the network development plans in each case. With the federal requirement plan law of 2013, the energy industry necessity and the urgent need u. a. legally determined by SuedLink. Suedlink is listed by the European Commission as an internal German project of common interest under number 2.10 in the PCI list of the European Union.
requirement
The needs assessment for network expansion takes place according to the 2011 adopted Grid Expansion Acceleration Act transmission network (NABEG) in three steps:
- Determination of the scenario framework (change of generation and demand structures)
- Creation of the network development plan (necessary adaptation of the networks)
- Inclusion in the federal requirement plan (legal framework).
Corridors
Two HVDC connections between Schleswig-Holstein - Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein - Bavaria are combined under the name SuedLink in the NEP 2030 (2017) . Both projects can form a common main route over large parts.
| No. | project | Route length in km |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Brunsbüttel - Großgartach | 702 |
| 4th | Wilster - Bergrheinfeld / West | 558 |
planning
The actual planning of the network expansion takes place in two steps in accordance with the Network Expansion Acceleration Act (NABEG) passed in 2011:
- Federal technical planning (definition of the route corridors)
- Plan approval procedure (definition of the route / transmission technology).
Federal planning
The federal sectoral planning provides for the creation of a spatial compatibility study (RVS) and the implementation of a strategic environmental assessment (SUP) as essential components. As a first step, the Federal Network Agency organizes one or more public application conferences as part of the federal technical planning, depending on the needs or complexity of the project.
Brunsbüttel - Großgartach
The SuedLink from Brunsbüttel to Großgartach (on the city limits of Heilbronn ) is procedurally divided into five sections.
| section | Federal states | Route length in km | status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. | Brunsbüttel - Scheeßel | Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony | 102 | Route corridor decided |
| B. | Scheeßel - Bad Gandersheim / Seesen | Lower Saxony | 184 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
| C. | Bad Gandersheim / Seesen - Gerstungen | Lower Saxony, Hesse, Thuringia | 114 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
| D. | Gerstungen - Arnstein | Thuringia, Hesse, Bavaria | 136 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
| E. | Arnstein - Grossgartach | Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg | 137 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
Wilster - Bergrheinfeld / West
The SuedLink is from Wilster to Bergrheinfeld is procedurally divided into four sections. The project leads from Wilster (60 km northwest of Hamburg ) to Bergrheinfeld (formerly: Grafenrheinfeld ) near Schweinfurt . Near the northern end is the Brokdorf nuclear power plant , which, according to the currently applicable Atomic Energy Act , must be shut down by the end of 2021 at the latest. Another HVDC power line called NordLink , which connects Germany with Norway , ends here . This will go into operation in 2020 and is mainly used to exchange electricity from renewable energies, so that excess capacities can be stored in Norwegian hydropower plants and released again when required. At the southern end of the power line is the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant , which was decommissioned in 2015 and which was connected to the high-voltage network in the European network at the Bergrheinfeld substation , which was expanded to include the Bergheinfeld-West substation for the line from 2015 to 2019.
| section | Federal states | Route length in km | status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. | Wilster - Scheeßel | Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony | 96 | Route corridor decided |
| B. | Scheeßel - Bad Gandersheim / Seesen | Lower Saxony | 184 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
| C. | Bad Gandersheim / Seesen - Gerstungen | Lower Saxony, Hesse, Thuringia | 114 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
| D. | Gerstungen - Bergrheinfeld West | Thuringia, Hesse, Bavaria | 128 | Discussion meetings have taken place |
On February 5, 2014, the two operating companies proposed a route plan for the route from Wilster to Grafenrheinfeld. The line runs from Schleswig-Holstein via Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse to Bavaria. According to the managing director of Tennet, the planned costs are in the lower single-digit billion range. The project is being funded by the European Union with € 40 million . On September 26, 2014, Tennet published possible route variants to the south link.
On December 12, 2014, Tennet submitted the application for federal technical planning to the Federal Network Agency. On February 17, 2015, the Federal Network Agency published a statement on the application in which a comprehensive revision is required. Among other things, it is criticized that the application is not sufficiently specific, environmental impacts and spatial planning conflicts are not clear enough for the regions concerned, it is not recognizable and independently comprehensible on the basis of which interests corridors are proposed or rejected for the procedure, including the procedure the examination of route corridors and alternatives is in part not comparable. The Federal Network Agency as the licensing authority does not see itself in a position to continue the procedure on the basis of this application with application conferences. The Bundestag member Michael Brand described the statement as a "professional slap" for Tennet.
In May 2015, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Aigner, demanded that the route should run through southern Hesse and Baden-Württemberg instead of through Bavaria and only the last few kilometers to the end point Gundremmingen through Bavaria. This proposal met with strong criticism from politicians from Hesse and Baden-Württemberg as well as from environmental associations, who fundamentally reject the routes and instead consider decentralized electricity generation with wind and solar energy to be more sensible. In addition, allegations have been made that the Bavarian government is operating according to the Nimby or Saint Florian principle . According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the background to this change of opinion by the CSU government from the fundamental rejection of both routes to a relocation of the routes is that a possible prevention of the two routes is considered unlikely.
On July 2, 2015, as a result of the previous energy summit, it was announced that the political specifications for the direct current lines were to be changed. In the future, underground cabling should have priority over overhead lines in order to achieve greater acceptance among the population. As a result of this requirement, a complete re-evaluation of the planned routes became necessary - with considerable effects on time and cost planning.
On September 27, 2016, Tennet published new proposals for route corridors. On March 7, 2017, the preliminary preferred corridor was published, which now runs through Thuringia instead of Hesse . In the following weeks, the applications for federal technical planning for projects 3 (Brunsbüttel - Großgartach) and 4 (Wilster - Grafenrheinfeld) of the Federal Requirements Plan Act were submitted in sections to the Federal Network Agency. The application conferences are scheduled for May to July 2017. In February and March 2019, the network operators submitted the documents in accordance with Section 8 NABEG for a continuous proposal corridor to the Federal Network Agency. Another public participation took place in 2019.
Plan approval procedure
The project is currently in federal planning. Once this has been completed, the network operator can apply for the plan approval procedure, within the framework of which the exact routes and the transmission technology to be used are bindingly determined. To this end, the Federal Network Agency is holding an application conference with the bodies responsible for public affairs as well as associations and federations.
Construction and commissioning
The builders TenneT and TransnetBW commissioned the Jacobs Engineering Group as the central service provider for the planning, approval , obtaining easements and construction . The project office is set up in Würzburg . Between 130 and 250 people will work there in the various project phases. In June 2020, the two manufacturers were NKT and Prysmian (plastic insulated two systems of two Polkabeln, 525 kV) with the supply and installation of approximately 2,500 km underground cables including connection sleeves and terminations commissioned. Around ten billion euros are to be invested in Suedlink. The order volume for the cable work alone is around two billion euros. The planned transmission route was originally supposed to start construction in 2016 and be completed in 2022.
Technical specifications
Most of the power lines are to be operated as underground cable connections with direct voltage with a transmission capacity of 2 gigawatts each. The transmission of energy by means of direct current, instead of the usual three-phase alternating current , is advantageous for transmission over lengths of around 750 km upwards, since from these distances the lower transmission losses along the lines compensate for the losses in the additionally required converter stations .
The disadvantage is that HVDC transmission systems are more difficult to operate as a mesh network with many entry and exit points than with alternating current. However, thanks to technological progress, the implementation of meshed HVDC networks has become much more practicable. In the long term, such HVDC networks are seen as an important factor in future intelligent power networks with a high proportion of wind and solar energy .
criticism
There are numerous objections and protests against the route and the procedure in the affected regions. Numerous citizens' initiatives are protesting against the route and the procedure.
When it became known in February 2015 that the Federal Ministry of Economics was examining a special permit for the area of Federal Minister Sigmar Gabriel's constituency in order to have the line laid there with an underground cable, possible political influence on the process was criticized.
In 2014, Tennet managing director Hartman criticized the Bavarian CSU state government calling for a moratorium after massive protests by residents against one of the three planned main routes. Due to the delay in forwarding the electrical energy increasingly generated in the offshore wind farms in the north to the south, investments in the energy transition are increasingly being called into question.
Hamelin Declaration
More than 20 districts and regions from the federal states of Lower Saxony, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria signed the "Hamelin Declaration". This calls for a new planning of the power line: not only the proposal by the operator Tennet must be examined, but all conceivable corridors. Accelerated procedures must also follow the rule of law, good professional practice and the requirement of freedom of choice. The choice of the best corridor must be transparent and comprehensible step by step, all alternatives must be examined with the same depth of examination. Many of the points of criticism cited in the Hamelin Declaration can also be found in the rejection of the Federal Network Agency's application for federal technical planning from February 2015.
In March 2015, the signatories of the Hamelin Declaration presented two technical and legal assessments. It criticizes the fact that the previous application for federal sectoral planning is apparently only made for project 4, but at the same time the implementation of project 3 is accepted in the same masts. Such a connection of the projects also requires a joint assessment and application. Essential properties such as the final transmission capacity are not defined in the application; under these conditions, a technical examination and assessment of the application is not possible. In addition, the application is technically and methodologically inadequate, there is no information on technology or emissions; Criteria would be changed arbitrarily as needed.
In July 2015, at the coalition's "energy summit" in the Chancellery, it was decided that the planning for the SuedLink had to be re-started with the stipulation that the route planning now had to take into account a clear priority for underground cables. In June 2016 an "underground cable conference" was held in Kassel with experts on soil protection on this occasion.
See also
Web links
Project, project description and planning status
- Südlink at TenneT
- Südlink at TransnetBW
- Information platform of the district alliance of the "Hamelin Declaration" on SuedLink planning
Individual evidence
- ↑ Regulation (EU) 2018/540
- ↑ a b Federal Network Agency: The process - network expansion in five steps , online at www.netzausbau.de, accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ↑ Federal Network Agency: Federal technical planning or regional planning procedure? , online at www.netzausbau.de, accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ↑ a b BBPlG, project 3: Brunsbüttel - Großgartach (SuedLink). In: netzausbau.de. Federal Network Agency , accessed on February 3, 2020 .
- ^ Main-Post : Another four years for Grafenrheinfeld . , June 7, 2011, online at www.mainpost.de., Accessed on October 30, 2019.
- ↑ a b BBPlG, project 4: Wilster - Bergrheinfeld West (SuedLink). In: netzausbau.de. Federal Network Agency , accessed on February 3, 2020 .
- ^ TenneT TSO GmbH: SuedLink: Proposal for the SuedLink route corridor - the wind power line. , online at suedlink.tennet.eu, accessed on February 12, 2014.
- ↑ a b Operators present plans for Germany's longest power line . Spiegel Online, accessed February 7, 2014
- ↑ EU supports German wind power line SuedLink. In: ec.europa.eu. Representation of the European Commission in Germany , February 17, 2017, accessed on November 12, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Federal Network Agency on the application for federal technical planning for SuedLink. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Federal Network Agency, February 18, 2015, archived from the original on February 22, 2015 ; accessed on January 31, 2018 (explanations from the Federal Network Agency on the need for revision).
- ↑ Osthessen News: SuedLink application: “Shot across the bow for TenneT and a professional slap in the face ” , February 19, 2015, online at osthessen-news.de, accessed on October 30, 2019.
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung : All against Aigner's proposed route , May 20, 2015, online at www.sueddeutsche.de, accessed on May 22, 2015.
- ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: High voltage at the state border , May 17, 2015, online at www.sueddeutsche.de, accessed on May 22, 2015
- ↑ Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy: Gabriel: The energy transition is a big step further . BMWI press release of July 2, 2015, online at www.bmwi.de, accessed on
- ↑ TenneT TSO GmbH: TenneT sets the course for underground cables at SuedLink. July 28, 2015, accessed October 8, 2019 .
- ↑ NDR.de: "Suedlink" critics welcomed underground cabling ( Memento of 3 July 2015, Internet Archive ).
- ↑ TenneT TSO GmbH: Overview map of suggestions for underground cable corridors ( Memento from February 1, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Südlink on netzausbau-niedersachsen.de
- ↑ Federal Network Agency: Determining the exact line routes in the plan approval , online at www.netzausbau.de, accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ↑ TSOs rely on central service providers at Suedlink. In: newspaper for local economy. Association of Municipal Enterprises , accessed September 24, 2019 .
- ↑ SuedLink: Contract awarded for plastic-insulated 525 kilovolt underground cables. TransnetBW, press release, June 29, 2020, accessed June 3, 2020 .
- ↑ Tagesschau.de: From Wilster to Grafenrheinfeld ( Memento from February 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Project description SuedLink. TenneT TSO GmbH, February 5, 2014, accessed on February 5, 2014 .
- ↑ S. LeBlond et al .: Design of protection schemes for multi-terminal HVDC system . In: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews . tape 56 , 2016, p. 965–974 , doi : 10.1016 / j.rser.2015.12.025 .
- ^ S. Bianchi et al .: Control of multi-terminal HVDC networks towards wind power integration: A review . In: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews . tape 55 , 2016, p. 1055-1068 , doi : 10.1016 / j.rser.2015.11.024 .
- ^ List of citizens' initiatives against Südlink
- ↑ Underground cables especially for Gabriel's constituency? Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, February 5, 2015
- ↑ Alexander Smoltczyk: artery of the nation . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 2014, p. 52-57 ( online ).
- ↑ Wind power seeps into the power grids · Line construction lags behind construction of offshore parks · Bavarian blockade policy delays “SuedLink” . In: Daily port report , September 15, 2015, special supplement Offshore , p. 3
- ↑ NDR.de: Counties demand new southlink planning ( Memento from February 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b SuedLink: The districts of the "Hamelin Declaration" consider application conferences this year to be highly unlikely .
- ↑ Alliance of the Hamelin Declaration V .: Alliance of the "Hamelner Declaration" brings together experts on the soil to be protected in a specialist conference in Fulda on June 21, 2016 , June 29, 2016, online at www.hamelner-erklaerung.de, accessed on October 30, 2019.