The share of renewables on the 50Hertz grid has risen to a record 65% – but more speed is needed for the goal of climate neutrality, according to the operator.
Overall, there was an increase in renewable energy systems in the 50Hertz grid area last year in the amount of 2500MW, of which more than 1800MW were photovoltaic and 700MW were onshore wind power.
In total, more than 40,000MW of renewable energy has now been installed in eastern Germany and Hamburg.
50Hertz plans to invest €8.7bn in the network infrastructure by 2027
Despite the tense situation on the energy markets and the bottlenecks in gas supplies, the security of the system and supply was not at risk at any time this winter, 50Hertz.
In addition to the measures introduced by the federal government for security of supply and system stability as well as the mild temperatures, wind power, photovoltaics and biomass played a major role, it added.
Renewables also had a price-dampening effect, when on days with high wind and solar power feed-in, they pushed down the high exchange electricity prices.
50Hertz chief executive Stefan Kapferer said: “We are seeing a clear upward trend in photovoltaics and expect that the connection to the grid of large free-standing systems and the boom in private roof systems will result in further expansion this year and in the years to come.
“On the other hand, the expansion of wind energy on land is only slowly picking up speed.
“The laws passed by the federal government will have an effect in the medium term, but at the moment the pace of expansion in this segment is not sufficient to achieve the ambitious energy transition and climate protection goals by 2030 – and also the goals of our own corporate strategy of 100 percent by 2032.”
By the early 2030s, 50Hertz wants to connect offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea with a total output of almost 5000MW.
Four offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea are currently feeding in their electricity via 50Hertz grid connections with a total output of over 1000MW.
The Arcadis Ost 1 wind farm is scheduled to go into full operation this year.
The transformer platform for the Baltic Eagle wind farm has just been installed off the coast of Rügen, so that an additional offshore capacity of 750MW will be available by the end of 2024.
50Hertz will also participate in the development of offshore capacities in the North Sea via a power hub in the Heide area in Schleswig-Holstein and the direct current connection NordOstLink.
The LanWin 3 grid connection with an output of 2000MW is firmly planned, with more to follow.
In the future, 50Hertz will be the only German transmission system operator active in the North and Baltic Seas, it said.