The new line is intended to connect the coasts with the Ruhr area.
(Photo: dpa)
Dortmund The network operator Amprion has proposed a specific route for a new electricity highway from Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein to the Ruhr area. The one kilometer wide corridor for the line is to be submitted to the Federal Network Agency in September together with alternatives, as Amprion announced on Wednesday.
The proposed corridor forms the basis for the new underground route, which will be between 40 and 60 meters wide. Approval for the basic course should be available by 2025.
The electricity highway, the so-called Corridor B, was laid down in the Federal Requirements Plan Act in 2021 in order to advance the energy transition. “We bring the wind power from the North Sea down to the Ruhr area, where there are now coal-fired power plants,” explained Amprion overall project manager Arndt Feldmann. The total capacity of the lines, four gigawatts, is sufficient to replace five coal-fired power plants from the early 2030s.
The system consists of two sections: an approximately 440-kilometer section from Heide in Schleswig-Holstein to the Marl chemical center in North Rhine-Westphalia and an approximately 270-kilometer section from Wilhelmshaven in Lower Saxony to Hamm.
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Both sections intersect and meet in the route now proposed by Amprion north of Cloppenburg and then run parallel for 62 kilometres. Among other things, care was taken to avoid moor areas, protected areas and settlements during the course, said Amprion project manager Dirk Hensen.
Amprion’s proposal provides for two sections.
Amprion now wants to discuss the proposed route with citizens, associations and authorities at events in the regions. A total of 710 kilometers of cable are to be laid for the seven billion euro project. In addition, empty pipes are being laid through which further cables with an additional capacity of four gigawatts could run in the future.
More: Operator Transnet: Suedlink electricity autobahn not ready until the end of 2028
