Dutch/German transmission system operator TenneT expects to increase its investment level to €4bn to €5bn annually in the coming years, as a result of the phase out of coal and nuclear power plants and the growth of offshore wind energy.
TenneT said its capital investments totalled €3.064bn in 2019, of which €1.131bn was in the Netherlands and €1.925bn in Germany.
This compares with total investments of €2.253bn in 2018.
TenneT chief executive officer Otto Jager said: “In order to keep the company financially healthy, we expect to need €2bn to €3bn of additional equity in the next four years.”
He added that a number of solutions are conceivable that need to be flexible, scalable and must not split the company.
“We are in close consultation with our shareholder (the Dutch State) about the best way forward,” Jager said.
In 2019, TenneT revenue fell slightly to €4.084bn from €4.176bn, while earnings before interest and taxes dropped to €768m from €853m.
The TSO said the fall was mainly driven by a reduced regulatory rate of return on equity in Germany, due to the start of the new five-year regulatory period.
This was partly offset by a higher regulatory asset base due to investments.
TenneT added that in 2019 it met and exceeded the German government’s 2020 6.5GW expansion target for sustainable North and Baltic Sea wind power.
It has commissioned the BorWin 3 HVDC connection, while the DolWin5, DolWin6 and BorWin5 are in development.
These connections will increase TenneT’s transport capacity for wind farms in the German North Sea to almost 10GW by 2025, the company said.
A further 6.5GW of transmission capacity is to be added by 2030.
Borssele Alpha, TenneT’s first alternating current offshore platform on the Dutch part of the North Sea, has been installed on schedule and is now ready for use, the company said.
A further seven of these 700MW standardized platforms will be delivered by 2027 for connecting future offshore wind farms to the onshore grid.
TenneT expects to have realised a total of almost 10GW of offshore connection capacity by 2030 in the Dutch North Sea