Power consumption
Share of renewables in the east in almost 75 percent
Almost three quarters of the electricity consumption in the east come from renewables. Solar expansion in particular is increasing. This presents the network operators with challenges.
The proportion of renewable energies in electricity consumption in the East and northern German federal states last year was almost 75 percent. A longer dark doldrums in the last months of 2024 made sure that the proportion was not increased more, said the head of the East and North German transmission network operator 50hertz, Stefan Kapferer. Nevertheless, around 80 days a year could even cover around 100 percent of the demand.
One speaks of “dark downs” when the sun hardly shines and at the same time only a little or no wind blows. This means that solar systems and wind turbines can only generate a little electricity. The opposite is the “light breeze”, a lot of sunshine and at the same time wind, which can lead to an oversupply of electricity. There is no exact definition for “dark brisk”.
However, while the proportion of renewable energies continues to increase, electricity demand has been stagnating for years. Last year the consumption in the 50th network area-in all East German federal states and Hamburg-was according to the company around 94 terawatt hours and therefore not as low than in 20 years. This is mainly due to the slow run of electromobility and the low demand for power -powered heat pumps.
Kapferer: need more flexibility in the system
Already more and more renewable electricity is being used on the net on more and more days than at all, said Kapferer. The years of focus on the rapid expansion of producer capacities must therefore change. “Clear message: At the moment we don’t need four gigawatts of solar planning every year, but we need more flexibility in the system,” he emphasized. “And we need the opportunity to transport the electricity through expanded networks.”
This is why 50Hertz plans to invest almost 23 billion euros in network expansion by 2028. That is about five times as much as in the previous five -year planning period. 50hertz belongs to the Elia Group, a Belgian transmission system operator. The investor wants to support investments with additional equity of around 2.2 billion euros. Of these, around 850 million euros are to come from four private investors, including the infrastructure fund atlas Infrastructure and the investment group BlackRock.
dpa
Source: Stern
