A total of 7,500 kilometres will have to be optimized, strengthened, or newly built in the German transmission network over the next few years. High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission links are playing a key role here, such as SuedLink, the new wind power line, which will enable low-loss energy transport over long distances – and the integration of wind power from the North and solar power from the South of Germany into the transmission grid.
The contract for the necessary converter technology for the section between the grid interconnection points of Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein and Leingarten/Großgartach in Baden-Württemberg was signed recently. Siemens Energy will supply the converters and carry out the detailed and site-specific planning of the facilities in the coming months together with the project owners, the transmission grid operators TenneT and TransnetBW, and further project members.
Describing the importance of the project, Tim Meyerjürgens, MD, TenneT, said, “The construction of SuedLink, the largest grid expansion project in Germany, is crucial to the success of the energy transition.”
Commenting on the contract, Dr. Werner Götz, Managing Director of Transnet BW, said, “With the award of the contract, we have taken a decisive step closer to realizing SuedLink. Now the planning can be further worked out in concrete terms at two starting and end points, and the preparatory construction measures already underway at the southern end point in Leingarten, Baden-Württemberg, can be driven forward.”
