North Sea powerhouse: TenneT expands grid connectivity in Europe

In 2022, TenneT transmitted about 29TWh hours of electricity from wind power from the North Sea—enough to power nine million households for a year.

Now, the European transmission systems operator has set its sights on quadrupling its transmission capacity in the famously stormy body of water, where wind speeds can exceed 34 knots. Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium have agreed to jointly install at least 65GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, and TenneT will be responsible for connecting nearly two-thirds of that capacity to the mainland in the form of subsea, wadden sea and land cables.

This expansion could not come at a more critical time. As geopolitical disruption continues, countries must navigate volatile energy markets while keeping pace with ambitious decarbonisation goals. The EU has proposed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. Accelerating the transition to renewable energy is a key feature of all decarbonisation plans.

Infrastructure upgrades will support European value chains

TenneT currently provides the vital infrastructure for offshore wind power transmission from the Netherlands and German North Sea, with capacities of 3.7GW and 7.1GW respectively.

To scale up its offshore transmission capacity to 40GW by 2030, TenneT will install 15 to 20 offshore grid connection systems at a cost of €30bn. These investments also include upgrading its current 700MW converter stations to 2GW high-voltage platforms, almost tripling the electricity transmission capacity of each station. This high-voltage technology will increase efficiency and mean that less electricity is lost in transmission.

TenneT offers engineering contracts with terms for up to eight years for the production of these platforms. The tenders are expected to spur the market into action through the investment security that this type of large-scale job provides. Long-term partnerships will accelerate growth, job creation and resource development, and ultimately strengthen European value chains.

“This is not only helpful for a stable future energy system, it's also a big opportunity for a new value chain, for new jobs and digital innovation,” says van Beek.

Plans for a green hydrogen future

These plans will be a huge step towards providing more renewable energy for Germany and the Netherlands. But TenneT is laying the foundations for something even bigger. As a member of the North Sea Wind Power Hub consortium, together with Energinet, Gasunie and Port of Rotterdam, it is supporting the creation of an interconnected energy network in the North Sea.

This wind-powered network will have the capability to convert renewable electricity to gas and green hydrogen, connecting western Europe’s energy systems with storage opportunities and low—and zero-carbon energy.

“Society will become increasingly electrified,” says van Beek. “If you want to realise the energy system of the future even faster, you just have to look at the North Sea and grow that into a North Sea powerhouse. Not just for the Netherlands or Germany, but also for the whole of north-western Europe. We have to really start thinking differently and scale up.”

Investing onshore 

TenneT also has ambitious plans to expand and upgrade its onshore network to match the growing electricity demand from industry and the expansion of electric vehicle fleets. In the first half of 2022 alone, the company invested €1.6bn in European grid integration.

“We will invest €8bn per year in the next few years,” says van Beek. “Tripling our capacity in many Dutch provinces by 2030.”

Upgrading grid infrastructure and creating flexibility through demand-response systems will accelerate the embedding of more renewable energy. “The general belief is that 10% or less of the flexibility potential in the grid is used today,” says van Beek.

“If you can unlock that, you can really speed up energy transition progress.”

• TenneT has more than 7,400 employees in Germany and the Netherlands.
  
• It owns and operates more than 25,000km of high-voltage lines across the Netherlands and parts of Germany.
• TenneT is aiming to invest €8bn a year in grid expansion in the coming years.

This article was produced in collaboration with The Financial Times as part of the PwC-sponsored Energy Intersections content series and was first published on pwc.ft.com on August 18, 2023.