Darstellung grümen Strom oder Ökostrom

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The Minister of Energy Transition Tobias Goldschmidt, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck, TenneT Managing Director Tim Meyerjürgens and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SH Netz Matthias Boxberger launched the commissioning of the fourth section of the West Coast Line today. A joint, symbolic push of a button marked the start of the second longest section (38km) of the electricity highway and represents an important milestone towards climate neutrality.

With the fourth section of the line activated, around 85 percent of the electricity line is now in operation. Minister Goldschmidt expressed his satisfaction on the margins of the event in the following words: “Today marks a giant leap forward in climate action and achieving energy sovereignty. The West Coast Line is considered the main artery of the energy transition in Schleswig-Holstein and will yield a triple dividend. Large amounts of green electricity are fed into the line that we are producing between Brunsbüttel and the Danish border. This makes the West Coast Line a key driver of decarbonisation in our country. At the same time, the electricity line is a significant economic factor that will make the West Coast a magnet for energy-intensive companies. In times of soaring energy prices, the line will also have a dampening effect on electricity prices. This is not only because much cheaper green electricity is fed into the grid but also because grid interventions are massively reduced.”
Federal Minister Robert Habeck: “The West Coast Line is a key building block for grid expansion throughout Germany. The new line improves the integration of renewable wind power. With the completion of the last section next year and the connection to Denmark, we will also make further progress on the integration of the European electricity market. The current situation underlines once again the importance of European cooperation and solidarity. The basis for this is cross-border infrastructure like the West Coast Line.”

In the period between 2019 and 2021, the number of curtailments in Schleswig-Holstein could be more than halved. While 3.749 gigawatt hours (GWh) were not fed into the grid in 2019 due to a lack of transmission line capacity, the figure was only 1.856 GWh in 2021. As a result, the amount of compensation paid to plant operators decreased from €322 million to €238 million. The compensation is passed on to electricity customers via the grid fees and thus leads to higher electricity prices.

Minister Goldschmidt thanked all parties involved in the project and gave a positive outlook, saying: “The construction of such a line requires plenty of stamina. My thanks go to all those involved, whose hard work and commitment has made it possible for us to move forward at record speed. Now we have to look ahead so that the line can go into full operation in 2024 as planned.”

Background:
The 38km-long fourth section of the West Coast line runs from the Husum/Nord substation to the Klixbüll/Süd substation. After receiving the planning approval decision in January 2020, the project developer TenneT began construction work in May 2020. The overall electricity line has a total length of 137 kilometres and will connect the industrial location of Brunsbüttel with the town of Endrup in Denmark. Full commissioning is planned for 2024.