![]() Power suppliers must pay the TSOs a “ grid fee” for the use of their network, which is ultimately passed on to the consumer. It is their job to regulate the power supply, including balancing fluctuating power from renewables with more predictable conventional generation. In Germany, the maximum voltage transmission grid is owned by four transmission system operators (TSOs) - TenneT, 50Hertz, Amprion, and TransnetBW -, which are responsible for the operation, maintenance, and development of their respective sections of the grid. In response to public protests against overland powerlines and pylons, new legislation has given priority to underground cables, although this technology is more expensive to install and maintain. Currently, just 0.4 percent of the German transmission grid is laid below ground. The transmission grid is used to transport electricity over large distances, taking power from where it is produced to areas of demand, as well as exporting power abroad. Most of the power lines use alternating current, but the new transmission lines between northern and southern Germany, planned to be completed by 2025, will use the more efficient high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology. It transmits power with a maximum voltage of 220 kilovolts (kV) or 380 kV. The total length of Germany’s transmission grid is around 35,000 kilometres. Keeping the grid stable during times of high influx of variable renewables and organising the interaction between the transmission and distribution grids are among the challenges faced by Germany’s grid operators. The grid system, which was built to deliver electricity from large power stations (via the transmission network) to some large (industries) but mostly small consumers (households - via the distribution network) is being upended by hundreds of thousands of small renewables installations (over 1.7 million solar PV installations and over 29,000 onshore wind turbines), which are feeding into the distribution grid at lots of decentralised locations (see graph below). In 2020, renewable sources, mostly from biomass plants and volatile sources, such as wind and solar PV, covered over 45 percent of German power consumption. We now have to go into 25th gear to adjust everything, but that just doesn’t work at the pace that everyone wants.Germany is experiencing a continuous growth in renewable power generation, causing an upheaval in the traditional supply chain for electricity. “The infrastructure is not built for this. The fact that people want to build large solar parks in places in the Netherlands where the land price is low does not help either, the grid operator added. “But now, with the volatility of solar and wind supply, it is becoming a very different story. It can also happen that lamps flicker or that you can’t charge your car, for example.”Īccording to Liander, the Netherlands once had a very nice system with which there were almost never any problems. As a result, you can’t return the electricity, and you can’t earn back. “But the cable in your neighborhood is too thin. It is starting to rattle and shake more and more,” said the spokesperson.Īs an example of where problems arise, she said that people are now buying solar panels en masse. “Eventually, everyone will suffer from this. She pointed out that Liander is also struggling with shortages of materials like chips, cables, wires, and meters. “They are already noticing it if, for example, you cannot return electricity with solar panels,” said the spokesperson. Consumers will also be increasingly affected by this, according to Liander. The power grid needs to be reinforced and expanded to solve the problem. Companies and institutions that want to expand or connect new buildings cannot do so, said a spokesperson for Liander. The new “botllenecks” have arisen on the electricity grid in Amsterdam, Flevoland, Gelderland, and Noord-Hollland. This means that it can make no new connections for businesses, schools, and hospitals. The electricity grid has reached its maximum capacity for supplying power to large consumers in even more places, grid operator Liander announced.
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