Transmission system operators TenneT and 50Hertz have published the first possible route proposal for the joint NordOstLink network expansion project, an underground cable direct current connection between the Heide search area (Schleswig-Holstein) and the Klein Rogahn search area (near Schwerin), linking offshore wind sites to the German grid.
NordOstLink consists of the DC31 direct current line (Heide search area to Klein Rogahn search area) and includes additional connections such as the DC32 direct current line (Pöschendorf search area to Klein Rogahn search area) and five offshore grid connections, which are carried from Heide to their respective branch points.
According to the network development plan, the connections are planned as a bundled main route. Each of these connections has a transmission capacity of 2GW.
By bundling the offshore grid connections with the onshore direct current lines, up to six systems are planned in parallel to one another between the Heide search area and the Pöschendorf search area.
NordOstLink has a transmission capacity of up to 12GW in some areas. In accordance with legal requirements, NordOstLink is implemented as a 525kV underground cable. The wire is scheduled to go into operation in 2032.
DC hubs, so-called multi-terminal hubs in the Heide and Pöschendorf search areas, link the grid connection systems at sea with the DC connections on land. Since NordOstLink passes through the network areas of TenneT and 50Hertz, the two transmission system operators have decided to implement the project together as part of a cooperation agreement.
The basis for the planning is the 5km-10km wide so-called preference area for the wire published by the Federal Network Agency in November 2023.
TenneT and 50Hertz determined the now published proposal for the line route within this zone. This first route draft can be viewed from today at: www.tennet.eu/de/projekte/nordostlink and www.50hertz.com/NordOstLink
The two companies will be offering information events along the route for politicians, authorities, public bodies and citizens from March. The aim is to provide the public with as comprehensive a view of the planning as possible by informing them at an early stage. At the events TenneT and 50Hertz will describe the approach to planning, present the resulting route proposal and provide information about the upcoming procedural steps and opportunities for participation in the planning approval process, which begins in summer 2024.
The public information events along the planned route proposal will take place between 4 March 4 and 15 March and will be announced via newspaper advertisements and notices. They are also published online at: https://www.tennet.eu/de/projekte/nordostlink and https://www.50hertz.com/de/News/Details/14191/nordostlink-Shows-planning-on-infomaerkten
The formal approval process begins in June 2024 with the application for a planning approval decision. The responsible approval authority is the Federal Network Agency.
Over the coming years, it will also involve those responsible for public affairs and the general public in the formal process in several steps. A property-specific priority road will only be presented by the project developers with the complete planning approval documents in 2026. The official determination of the route of the pipeline through the planning approval decision is not expected until 2027 at the earliest.