Grid agency report: almost 90 percent of urgent grid expansion wanting

Germany has built about 850 kilometres of a total of 7,700 kilometres of “high priority” transmission lines, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) says in a press release accompanying its annual report. “Until these transmission lines are implemented, we will still need the capacity reserve to keep the German grid stable in critical situations,” the agency writes. Analyses for the coming winter show reserve capacities of 10,400 megawatts (MW) are needed to meet the country’s modernised security standards, it said. The agency also says capacity reserve requirements are likely to decrease next year once the planned “bottleneck management” at the German-Austrian border runs smoothly.

Find the press release in German here and the report in German here. 

See the CLEW factsheet How can Germany keep the lights on in a renewable energy future? for backgorund.