German grid agency unveils grid expansion scenario for a 65 percent-renewable power supply in 2030

The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has released its 2030 grid development scenarios, including a “substantially altered” scenario based on a 65 percent share of renewables in the power mix, and on the additional auctions for wind and solar power promised in the government’s coalition treaty. "The transmission grid operators must now come up with concrete expansion plans," BNetzA president Jochen Homann said in a press release. Homann said the operators had to use “innovative grid technology and management concepts” in their plans and ensure that optimised use of the existing grid “reduces the need for grid expansion to an inevitable minimum.” The agency’s various expansion scenarios differ on the number of electric cars on German roads, the degree of sector coupling in the energy system and the use of efficient technology and storage in the power sector. Grid operators have to submit their plans by April 2019, the BNetzA added.

Read the press release in German here.

For background, read the dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid.