German authorities have approved the final route of a large section of the SuedOstLink, a key piece of grid infrastructure that will deliver wind and solar power from the north to the south of the country.
Federal network agency BNetzA has rubber stamped the layout for some 182km of the line that runs between Wolmirstedt to the west of Berlin and the Naunmburg/Eisenburg area, which is south-west of Leipzig.
Transmission system operators 50Hertz, which is leading on the northern part, and counterpart TenneT, which is taking care of the southern portion, will now seek formal planning approval, it is understood.
The section is the first of several that will eventually make up SuedOstLink that will run between Saxony-Anhalt in the North and Bavaria in the south.
Development work on the other sections is ongoing.
The scheme is recognised as a Project of Common Interest by Brussels and is seen as essential to the country’s energy transition.